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A CONSECRATED LIFE 

A Sketch of the Life and Labors of 

Rev.RansomDunn,D.D. 

I 8 18-1900 



Bjy his daughter 

Helen Dunn Gates 



BOSTON, MASS. : 

THE MORNING STAR PUBLISHING HOUSE 

457 Shawmut Avenue 

1901 






UBRARYofCONflRESS 
Two Copies Received 

M.AK tb 1907 

^ Copyrtgrht Entry 
CLASS /\ XXC, No. 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1901 
By Morning Star Publishing House 



LC Control Number 



1 




tmp96 028055 



AND THE STILL LARGER NUMBER TO WHOM 
HIS LIFE HAS BEEN AN INSPIRATION AND HIS 
WORK A BLESSING, THIS VOLUME IS GIVEN BY 
HIS DAUGHTERS, WITH THE HOPE THAT IT MAY BE 
NOT ONLY A LOVING TRIBUTE TO HIS MEMORY, 
BUT AN INCENTIVE TO OTHERS TO " SPEND AND 
BE SPENT" IN THE SERVICE OF HIM WHO 
"LOVED US AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR US." 



Preface 



At the urgent request of many friends this 
story of the life of Ransom Dunn has been pre- 
pared. He was a worker, not a record keeper, 
and much of his service is known only to the 
Master whom he served. His thought was ever 
for others, not of himself. His public efforts 
were largely extemporaneous and much of his 
ablest work without proper reports. But he 
kept at times brief journals for his convenience, 
and always preserved all letters received from 
friends. From these and the family letters, and 
many other sources, facts have been gathered. 

For the kind assistance of numerous friends 
who have helped to make possible the comple- 
tion of this work, our thanks are due. Also to 
the Morning Star Publishing House for the use of 
its files, to Mr. George A. Slayton for the files of 
7he Christian Freeman, to Mrs. H. J. Carr for 



vi PREFACE 

files of Hillsdale College publications, and to 
Rev. D. M. Fisk for his biographical sketch of 
Professor Dunn. 

If this sketch may bring to the memory of the 
old friends who have not gone on to meet him 
this energetic, consecrated worker, or recall to 
alumni of Hillsdale College the genial, saintly 
professor whom all students loved, or stir some 
young hearts to more devoted Christian service, 
it will have achieved its object. 

Helen Dunn Gates. 

Scranton, Pa., July, igoi. 



Contents 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. ANCESTRY— Early Life in New England 

— 1818-1834 I 

II. EARLY Christian Experience— Call to 

Service— 1835-1836 17 

iii. evangelistic work in ohio —" the 

boy preacher " — 1837-1843 ... 31 

IV. A HOME IN Ohio— Geauga Seminary- 

Eastern PASTORATES— 1843-1848 . . 55 

V. The First Great Sorrow — Boston 

PASTORATE— PROSTRATED— 1848-1852 81 

VI. Michigan Central College — Hills- 

dale College agency— Home Mis- 
sion WORK— 1853-1855 103 

VII. Hillsdale college— Boston— Illinois 

—THE Civil War— 1855-1863 ... 125 
VIII. Theological department— European 

TRAVEL— Nebraska— 1863-1865 ... 158 
IX. College Presidencies— Rio Grande- 
Hillsdale— 1875-1885 181 



viii CONTENTS 

X. TEACHER AND AUTHOR — ALONE— 1886- 

1896 212 

XI. LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE — EIGHTIETH 

BIRTHDAY— 1896-1898 241 

XII. CLOSING DAYS— 1898-1900 258 

XIII. IN MEMORIAM— Nov. 9, 1900 275 

XIV. PERSONAL Character— LIFE Lessons . 299 

Selected Thoughts and Words 

AN introductory WORD 323 

LETTERS : 

Extracts from Letters from abroad 326 
Extracts from Letters from Cali- 
fornia 335 

Skeletons of Sermons 341 

a sermon: "the power of faith " .... 345 
articles from papers : 

Christ's prayer for Union 356 

revivals 357 

Substitutional atonement 360 

COMMON Sense and Religion 362 

preaching the gospel 367 

The Successful pastor (An Ocean 

PARK Lecture) 367 

Where Shall I Go to School? .... 372 

Brief Quotations 374 

The fatherhood of God 376 



Illustrations 

/ 



Frontispiece— Prof. Ransom Dunn, D. D. 

Ransom Dunn's mother ii 

The old home in Bakersfield, Vermont 24 

" The Boy Preacher " — his first picture 49 

Rev. Ransom Dunn in 1845 • 74 

Mrs. Mary Eliza Dunn, Ransom, and Cedelia ... 82 
The Boston pastor and his wife, Mrs. Cyrena E. 

Dunn 90 

Professor Ransom Dunn, about 1855 114 

Hillsdale College, the original building 129 

Little Cyrena and her mother 133 

A Literary Society Hall in Hillsdale College 145 

The monument to the student soldiers 162 

Professor F. W. Dunn 177 

Hillsdale College in 1876 179 

Rio Grande College 183 

Professor Ransom Dunn, D. D., 1875 187 

Mrs. Dunn, 1875 191 

The home in Hillsdale 202 

The study window 222 

In California 234 

The three daughters 250 

"Grandpa Dunn" 264 



ANCESTRY.— EARLY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 

To few is granted the privilege of so long a life 
in such an important period of the world's history 
as the one whose life we attempt to chronicle. 
To have lived nearly the whole of the nineteenth 
century and watched the development of our 
country and the world, to have seen the immense 
strides taken in science and invention, the im- 
provements in modes of travel and in conven- 
iences of the homes of the people, was indeed a 
a privilege. 

When Ransom Dunn first opened his eyes in a 
pioneer's cabin in New England it was to see the 
flickering candle and the light from the log fire- 
place. He lived to see the lamp, the gas, and 
the electric light ; to feel the comforting warmth 
from the wood stove, coal furnace, and steam- 
heating plant. The settlers in those early days 
heard from each other rarely, only when some 
1 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

one journeyed from place to place on foot or 
horseback. To-day the white wings of the pos- 
tal service are everywhere, the flying express 
carries messages, and the telegraph carries them 
faster still, while through the telephone we hear 
even the voices of friends from long distances. 
The journeys of those times were laborious efforts 
by stage-coach or private conveyance over roads 
made by occasional travelers. The bicycle, auto- 
mobile, and electric car were not dreamed of, and 
the first proposals of steamboat and railway 
laughed at. Then the doctor carried in his saddle- 
bags his small stock of medicines, and with his 
limited medical knowledge ministered to the needs 
of the scattered population. Now the science of 
surgery and medicine, with its many life-saving 
means and the comforts and luxuries of its hos- 
pitals with trained nurses, as well as educated 
specialists, performs wonders for suffering human- 
ity. Invention has changed the methods of agri- 
culture and business ; book making has become 
an art, and book reading universal. Changes in 
public sentiment in regard to republican ideas, 
Lintislavery principles, the temperance question, 
and other moral reforms have been marked ; while 

2 



EARLY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 

Christian activities for the masses in the great 
cities that have grown up in our country, and 
for the teeming populations of other lands, have 
been wonderfully increased. 

Ransom Dunn, in his long life, not only saw 
and felt these changes but was a part of them, a 
factor in their development. His life of over 
eighty years was a record whose every page has 
its felt influence and permanent result. But to 
study it rightly we must begin back of its active 
work, for, as one historian has well said, **the 
entire man is seen in the cradle of the child. 
We must watch the infant in his mother's arms; 
we must see the first images which the external 
world casts upon the dark mirror of his mind, the 
first occurrences which he witnesses ; we must 
hear the first words which awaken the sleeping 
powers of thought, — if we would understand the 
prejudices, the habits and passions, which will 
rule his life." Still farther back, indeed, should 
we trace the life stream and know the ancestry 
and their environments, and the influences thus 
brought to bear upon the life of the individual. 

It will be interesting, then, to learn some facts 
in regard to the Dunn family. In 1635 there 
3 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

sailed from London, for the new colony of Vir- 
ginia, the ship Barmaneston, Captain James 
Ricroft. The government, thinking that too 
many were leaving England, ordered that each 
alternate name should be erased from the list 
enrolled for passage. Thus the name of Oliver 
Cromwell was stricken out and he remained in 
England, while the name of Joseph Dunn, the 
next on the list, was retained, and he came 
to America. His son Thomas was made secre- 
tary of the party that was going on to New 
England. Most of these settled in Massachu- 
setts. John Dunn, the grandson of Thomas, 
lived in Barnstable, and here in 1716 was 
born the little Doratha, the first child born 
in that town. Four other children came to 
his home, the youngest being George, who settled 
in Oakham, Mass. He was drafted by the Eng- 
lish for the French and Indian War in 1745, and 
was taken prisoner and carried to France, ex- 
changed and sent to Quebec. When he returned 
to Massachusetts after an absence of seven years, 
he found his wife had been dead five years. The 
little boy she left him, Alexander Dunn, became a 
lieutenant in the American army, and died in the 



EARLY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 

battle of Saratoga in 1777. The father also en- 
tered the army of the Revolution, and, after the 
battle of Bunker Hill, was in the battle of White 
Plains, where he died on the field or was taken 
with other prisoners to starve in the ''British 
hell-hole," as the Long Island prison was called. 
He had married again and left a family of eight 
children, who became scattered, some going to 
Ohio, others to New York and Michigan. One 
son, James, settled in Bakersfield, Vt., about 
1795. The next^to the youngest was John, who 
seems to have been an active, energetic young 
man. He was a " teacher of singing schools and 
reading schools," and loved to travel from place 
to place to see and learn all he could. His brother 
Joel wrote him from New Braintree, in 1796 : '* I 
advise you to stop roving, for it is in vain to 
satisfy the eye you have roved over hill and 
valley. I am in hopes you will get a piece of 
land, and labor for yourself, so that you can reap 
the rewards in old age." 

But it was not so much the advice of his 
brother as the face of a Cornish maiden, that led 
him to look for a home. For when his school 
closed in Cornish, N. H., in 1796, he married 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Betsy Bartlett, the daughter of a well-to-do family 
of that town. The honeymoon might not ha^^e 
suited some maidens of to-day, for when he left 
her in the spring he had no chance to hear from 
her or send her a letter until September, when he 
wrote: ** I arrived safely in Bakersfield, and have 
been at work on my house, which will soon be fit 
to live in. I shall be down to see you in eight 
weeks. It will be best to move in February, 
when sleighing is good." The house to which he 
took his young wife was a log cabin, the eleventh 
one built in that town. The location is thus 
described: ''One of the numerous branches of 
the Green Mountains terminates about fifteen 
miles east of St. Albans and thirty miles north of 
Burlington in the town of Bakersfield. To the 
southwest, some three or four miles, lay ' Fletcher 
Hills ' with a sort of opening between them and 
the blue head of Mt. Mansfield, some twenty-five 
miles distant, whose white cap is seldom laid 
aside until nearly July." John Dunn had thought 
to make a home in the Genesee valley in New 
York State, where relatives had gone and sent 
back reports of rich lands to be secured at cheap 
prices. But the relatives of his wife objected to 
6 



EARLY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 

their going to ''such a wilderness, so far away," 
and he remained in New England. It may be 
questioned whether this was Providential leading, 
whether the sturdy sons reared in the cold snows 
of Vermont, and coming in contact with the 
awakening religious life of that period in New 
England, might not have been "speculators in- 
stead of preachers," as one of them said, had 
they been in a new and fertile country. John 
Dunn, however, found New England, near the 
Canada line, sufficiently new and near enough to 
a wilderness to demand hard work, and he went 
at it with determination. Three children, two 
sons and a daughter, came to the home to add to 
the enjoyment as well as care. In the midst of 
the hard but happy work the wife suddenly died, 
and left him alone with the little ones. 

One of his neighbors was Major Elkanah Reed, 
whose family had moved from Massachusetts to 
Townshend, Vermont, and this young man had 
just made a home in Bakersfield for his young 
girl-wife. An older sister, Abigail Reed, was 
with them, and out of sympathy for the little 
children went to Mr. Dunn's home to help in time 
of need. Her quiet, kind ways soon won the 

7 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

heart of the father as well as the children, and 
she became his wife. Among old papers are 
found letters from her parents, Thomas and Ruth 
Reed, of Townshend, to their '' loving children," 
Abigail and John, expressing appreciation of let- 
ters sent, and urging them to "send at every 
opportunity." These letters show the strong 
family attachment and also the circumstances of 
the times without postal facilities. Ransom re- 
members, when he was five years old, his mother's 
grief when a letter from her sister, Mrs. Ruth 
Reed Wright, told how their mother had died at 
Westminster, and asking that relatives at Fletcher 
be informed of the sad event. The letter is in 
the possession of the family, and closes with these 
pathetic words . " I want to see you so much, and 
brother Thomas promises to go with me two 
years from this winter if life and health are pre- 
served" — a sad commentary on the poverty of 
the pioneer settlers and the lack of traveling 
accommodations. 

Eight children were born to John and Abigail 
Dunn, four daughters and four sons, all of whom 
not only had enviable reputations in their neigh- 
borhood, but lived to hold positions of influence. 



EARLY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 

and some of them to be widely known. The 
four sons became ministers. Hiram, the oldest, 
preached forty-five years as a Methodist Episco- 
pal minister, and took into the church nearly 
five thousand people. He died suddenly in 1876, 
in the midst of a revival at Valley Falls, N. Y., 
where over one hundred had professed conver- 
sion. Lewis was a Baptist minister and preached 
for twenty-nine years in Fairfax, Vermont, hold- 
ing the respect and love of the people by his 
ability and character. He became president of 
Pella College, Iowa, where he died on Thanks- 
giving Day, 1888, honored and esteemed by a 
large circle of friends. His son, Rev. A. T. 
Dunn, D. D., of Waterville, Me., is the General 
Secretary of the State Baptist Association ; and a 
daughter, Mrs. Cornelia Henry, is a missionary 
in Tahiti. The youngest son of John Dunn was 
Thomas, an evangelist of great earnestness, a 
chaplain in the army, and appointed by General 
Butler superintendent of schools for colored chil- 
dren in New Orleans, where he died in 1862. 
The other son was Ransom, the tenth child of 
his father and seventh of his mother, born July 7, 
1818. At his birth, when his mother's sister, 
9 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Aunt Betsy Reed Carroll, asked what should be 
his name, the answer came quickly, '' Ransom, 
for he is the ransomed of the Lord." Years 
proved that he was truly so, and also a chosen 
vessel for the King's service, for he spent sixty- 
four years in the ministry ; forty-three years as 
a professor in a Christian college, thirty-five of 
these as a teacher of theology. Thus these four 
brothers gave one hundred and fifty years to the 
Christian ministry. 

A home that could start such influences must 
have characteristics worthy of study. The father 
was a man of more than ordinary intellectual 
ability. He was a close thinker, and few dared 
to oppose him in argument. With little help from 
others he made himself an acknowledged author- 
ity on many questions. He helped to establish a 
village library and was himself its most constant 
reader. He was a practical and industrious man, 
however, not a dreamer. Working on his farm, 
or as a mason or carpenter, he kept his large 
family in comfortable circumstances and trained 
them to work. As Ransom expressed it, '' he 
was a living example of mind in action." He 
served as justice of the peace in his town, and as 

10 



EARLY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 




Mother of Ransom Dunn. 

sheriff of the county, and no one was more called 
on as administrator of estates and for other busi- 
ness matters than " Squire Dunn." In the War 
of 1812 he was captain of a company. 

The mother was industrious and frugal, mild 

and even-tempered. She was never known to 

speak harshly, yet controlled well the children, 

— *'a kind, patient, hard-working mother." A 

11 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

letter, written by a relative'who visited her in 
1845, speaks of " Aunt Dunn just as good and 
motherly as ever." Her son says of her and the 
home: '* The soil was hard and stony, the cli- 
mate rigorous, my father's health always feeble, 
and without taxing the imagination it is easy to 
see dark and trying days in that old log house with 
that large family, and especially during the war 
and the cold season that followed. I have heard 
my mother tell something of them, though she 
never complained. Her piety was not demonstra- 
tive, but her goodness of heart and daily example 
were an inestimable blessing to the family. ' ' She 
is well remembered by younger relatives as an old 
lady, in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Roys, 
■of Woonsocket, Conn., where she died in 1858. 
Although eighty years of age, and nearly blind from 
•old age and a growing cataract, she was bright 
and interested in affairs, and to the last devoted 
to her children. 

In this quiet atmosphere of undemonstrative 
affection and earnest thinking, the little Ransom 
grew up. Being next to the youngest, and a deli- 
cate child, he was much in the house with mother 
and sisters. May not this account in part for the 
12 



EARLY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 

tender side of his nature and for the marked 
courtesy and gallantry toward women throughout 
his life ? A nervous affection threatened his life 
when small, and the care of a sister, who kept 
him in the open air in the little home-made cart, 
saved his life, as he believed. Was it then he 
gained his love for the hills of Vermont, the dark 
foliage against the ever-changing clouds, and the 
rippling brooks below ? This love for New Eng- 
land scenery never left him, and he always visited 
the old home scenes whenever possible. His 
wife on one of these visits in their later years 
wrote to a daughter: "Your father is enjoying 
roaming over these mountains as usual, and no 
wonder, for the view is grand. We are waiting 
for a glimpse of * the old man' (Mt. Mansfield) 
through the mists before we leave the green hills 
of Vermont and go through the heart of the 
White Mountains to the seashore." 

The favorite place of the slender little boy in 
the old home was on the floor at full length in 
front of the large log fireplace, with a book. He 
learned to read before he was five years old, by a 
word method of his own, before the days of kin- 
dergartens. His description of this is interesting. 

13 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

*' Every boy," he says, ''has a starting-point 
from which he takes the grand leap of his life. 
And somewhat in accordance with the character 
of this point and the extent of the leap will be 
his destiny for life. It may appear trivial at the 
time, perhaps unseen by others, and possibly for- 
gotten by himself, but there is a point at which 
the intellect breaks forth, in connection with some- 
thing learned or something performed, into a more 
intellectual or spiritual life. With me the ' big 
primer ' was the occasion, trying to read it the 
great effort. A small primer had been mastered, 
with its long list of letters and monosyllables. 
But now the book with long words and stories 
was presented. With firm resolution 1 seated 
myself upon the pile of chips near the big wood- 
pile, and commenced the task word by word, let- 
ter by letter. How slow the progress ! While I 
had laboriously read only one page my father had 
read almost half a volume of Gibbon's ' Decline 
and Fall,' and my sister nearly finished a book of 
* Captain Cook's Travels.' I said, ' I will read as 
fast as anybody,' and I did. A second and third 
reading supplied the words not known, and cor- 
rected mispronounced ones, and with untiring 

14 



EARLY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 

energy and application I soon made those stories 
of George Washington mine." As he grew older 
and read more he formed the habit of making 
abstracts to aid his memory in collecting facts. 
Such notes on the history of Egypt, and also ex- 
tracts on practical Christian living, made when 
thirteen years old, are now in the hands of his 
children and show the bent of his mind. 

Childish amusements were few, but a great 
treat was ''muster day," when the militia 
drilled on the green and the children spent their 
few hard-earned and greedily saved pennies for 
gingerbread. The picture he drew in later life of 
the bombastic '' Colonel " who had never been in 
a battle and whose bravery was not without 
question, and of the awkward squad, showed 
that underneath the childish curiosity were both a 
vein of humor and a keen judgment of human 
nature. 

A cousin tells of him that his playmates '' loved 
him because he never quarreled with them but 
made up any differences that might arise among 
the children." His love for little children and for 
helpless animals was noticeable, and this regard 
for all living things always characterized him. 

15 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

He could never bear to hear a baby cry, and one 
who knew him said, *' It always seemed as if his 
face said, ' Let the little ones come unto me.' " 



16 



I! 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.— THE CALL TO 
SERVICE 

The early religious experience that led to the 
decision of the life-work of Ransom Dunn can 
fortunately be given in his own words, from 
papers found in his desk after his death. "My 
father and mother were once Methodists but 
the class was disbanded, and they never again 
united with an organized church. But my 
father, though naturally inquisitive and doubtful 
respecting everything not positively demon- 
strated, never denied the existence of a God, 
the truth of the Bible, or the doctrine of immor- 
tality. In life strictly moral, with much more 
general knowledge than ordinary men of his 
position in life, he lived a thoughtful life and 
at last died in peace. My mother was a lover 
of God and man, with a belief in Christ and 

17 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

redemption. With such a head and heart to 
preside over the family there was no excuse 
for neglecting study or worship. 

*' At eight years of age my thoughts were seri- 
ously turned toward God by the conversion of 
an older brother. Several times I retired in 
the evening for prayer, as I had seen him do ; 
but a strange tearfulness prevented, and I con- 
cluded to wait four years, when I would be as 
old as my brother. From that time my inter- 
est in religion seemed to cease, and my heart 
grew harder. But at the end of four years, 
my conviction of sin returned with added sorrow 
for loss of time. My first attempts at prayer 
were interrupted, every plan for reformation 
was defeated, and another year was lost by 
mental conflict and procrastination. Much of 
this time, attracted by a new church and Sun- 
day-school library, I walked three miles for 
the service, improving my taste for reading, 
but not my piety. 

" About this time, a godly sister of mine, 
Amanda Dunn Montague, and her husband in- 
vited a few other Christians in the neighbor- 
hood to meet on Sabbath evenings at sunset 

18 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 

and pray for a revival. I knew of these sea- 
sons of prayer, but did not attend until a 
gentleman returning from a camp-meeting full 
of the zeal of a new convert went through the 
neighborhood exhorting the people to seek sal- 
vation. The earnest prayers of the few were 
heard ; the revival was there and continued for 
three months without any preacher. Prayer 
meetings in private houses, seasons of prayer 
in groves, were the means used under God of 
gathering most of the young people, and some 
heads of families, but no children of my age. 
On one Wednesday evening a very good man, 
my brother-in-law, expressed regret that no 
public conversions had occurred for two weeks, 
and questioned if any would take up the sad 
lamentation, ' The harvest is past, and the sum- 
mer is ended, and I am not saved.' The text 
was repeated three times, and to me it was the 
most impressive and effectual of any text I ever 
heard. It led me to a decision, and the next 
Sabbath evening I gave my heart to Christ." 
Thus the example and prayers of Christian 
relatives and friends were the means, with the 
Holy Spirit's power, of leading to the Saviour 

19 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

this timid, sensitive boy who was destined to 
become a courageous soldier of the cross. None 
of those most instrumental in his salvation are 
now living, but their work has been going on 
through his life all these years and will con- 
tinue through the hundreds he in turn has led 
to Christ. Among those who influenced him 
was his school teacher, of whom he tells this 
incident : '' When about twelve years of age, I 
was sitting in school with a boy who was very 
restless, and the teacher picked up his slate 
and gave him a copy to write, ' Time, Time, 
how few there be that know thy worth ! ^ 
That sentence brought to me by accident ap- 
parently awakened a purpose that has not 
changed, and had a great influence on my life." 
Another helpful friend was his Aunt Betsy 
Carrol, at whose house on " King's Hill " many 
prayer meetings were held, and who had 
special interest in Ransom. She lived to visit 
him when a pastor in Boston, and to show her 
continued zeal by house-to-house visitation of 
the street in which they lived. The gentleman 
whose earnest words at last brought him to a 
decision was Harry Montague, whose wife was 

20 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 

•the self-appointed nurse of his sicl<ly childhood, 
and now his spiritual guide to salvation. 

But his mind was not yet at rest. He says : 
" For three years my profession of faith was 
maintained by attending and participating in 
prayer meetings, although I never in any meet- 
ing exceeded one minute in speaking or prayer. 
I united with no church. There were two 
pedo-baptist churches not far from my home, 
but as I did not believe that infant sprinkling 
was Christian baptism, I could not unite with 
either without approving of what I did not 
believe, or assuming it proper to receive mem- 
bers without baptism. I did not like the epis- 
copacy which occasioned the dissolution of the so- 
ciety to which my parents belonged, neither could 
I accept the predestination of the other church, 
which believed repentance, faith, and salvation 
possible only for the elect, and that regenera- 
tion by the immutable purpose of God neces- 
sarily must precede repentance and faith. 
Unionism as advocated by the Union Herald of 
New York, and by John Truax and his associates 
in New England, weakened the feeling of obli- 
gation respecting church membership and vis- 

21 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

ible ordinances. But the Lord interposed and 
led me to feel intensely anxious for a deeper 
work of grace in my heart. The ideas of the 
spiritual God and freedom from sin that led to 
my first prayer, * Though my sins are as 
many as the sands on the sea-shore, yet, O 
Lord, forgive them all,' had somewhat lost their 
force on my soul, through these years of weak- 
ness. Now I prayed and struggled for weeks 
for increase of divine grace. At last I went 
twenty miles to attend a meeting of days, hop- 
ing for new light and power. But more dis- 
couraged than ever I started home at sunset. 
The half-developed moon and the fleecy clouds 
only added gloom to the evening ride. I could 
think of no other place to go for help, and, in a 
kind of sinking self-abnegation, I said in my 
heart to God, M can do nothing else.' Be- 
fore I was aware of it the gloom was gone, the 
stars broke through the clouds. God was good. 
Upon reaching home it seemed more desirable 
to retire to the grove for prayer than to bed 
for rest. The next day seemed like a new day. 
in the next prayer meeting the atmosphere was 
different. Instead of a minute in prayer I 

22 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 

wanted an hour ; instead of a single sentence of 
testimony I could exhort earnestly. The farm- 
er's kitchen seemed as good a place for worship 
as the most splendid church. That little church 
of ten members, mostly old people, among the 
hills back from the main road, with no prospect 
for a house of worship or pastor, seemed to me 
better than the large church in the village, be- 
cause their doctrines agreed with the New Tes- 
tament, and their praying was in the Holy 
Ghost. I was baptized and united with that 
church, and the membership has never been 
regretted." 



The condition of New England for some years 
after the War of 1812 was hard. Great scarcity 
of provisions was felt. Ransom remembered 
hearing his mother tell that when his father 
was in the army they ate their last meal of pota- 
toes, and she did not know where the next 
meal would come from, when she saw the father 
coming up the road, and things brightened 
with his coming. There were several cold and 
unproductive seasons. Spotted fever swept 
over New England. A tide of emigration to the 

23 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

new West set in. A general religious torpor 
seemed to prevail. The influence of the wonder- 
ful awakenings under Whitefield fifty years pre- 
vious had somewhat faded away. Dissipation 
and profanity were prevalent. We have seen 
how this was realized in Vermont, and the few 
consecrated Christians were praying for re- 
awakenings. One small and young denomina- 
tion was standing for vital piety and active 
Christian service as opposed to the hireling 
unconsecrated ministry, hyper-Calvinism, and 
other errors of the larger churches. Its leader 
had been Benjamin Randall, a convert of 
George Whitefield and a man of wonderful 
spiritual power. His associates and followers 
were noted for humble piety and self-sacrificing 
labors ; and, conversion of souls being their chief 
object, revivals followed their efforts everywhere. 
Randall and Buzzell had started churches of 
this faith in Vermont, Colby and others fol- 
lowed them, and the influence of this devoted 
people was being felt. 

Charles Bowles, a negro born in Boston, 
whose mother was a daughter of a celebrated 
officer in the American army, had become a 

24 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 

Christian and united with this people, called 
the Freewill Baptists. He was a man of great 
natural ability, and felt called to the ministry, 
and the results of his first efforts in Vermont 
seemed to prove his divine call, for one hundred 
and fifty were converted and a church of ninety 
organized. At one time he stopped at the home 
of John Dunn at Bakersfield, and as he left he 
placed his hand on the head of little Ransom and 
said, " My boy, be ready for the call of the 
Lord. He may want you." This little inci- 
dent made a deep impression upon the young 
boy. In 1823, Mr. Bowles organized a church at 
Enosburgh, Vermont, consisting of five members, 
one of whom was Perley Hall, a licensed Methodist 
Episcopal preacher who was soon ordained as 
a Free Baptist minister. Thus was laid the 
foundation of the Enosburgh Q. M., with which 
Ransom became connected. It was the preach- 
ing of Elder Bowles and Elder Fay that first 
stirred the heart of the young boy. It was 
Elder Perley Hall who baptized the young man 
in 1834. 

** About this time," he tells us, *M read an 
article in The Morning Star on 'The Valley of the 

25 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Mississippi,' giving a plain statement of the 
present and prospective population and re- 
ligious needs of that vast field. Before closing 
that reading in deep feeling and tears the con- 
viction was upon me with awful force that it 
was my duty to go there and preach the Gos- 
pel." It would be interesting to know what 
hand penned the article that turned the thoughts 
of this young man toward the opening fields of 
the West. We may not know positively, but 
possibly it was such ringing sentences as these 
from the pen of the scholarly Arthur Caverno 
in the issue of Aug. 20, 1834: **What a vast 
field is opened for missionary labor in the West ! 
Where shall they look for help if not to New 
England ? Every western breeze brings to our 
ears the plaintive cry, * Come over and help 
us ! ' Have we none among Free Baptists who 
will say, * Here am I, send me ' ? The voice 
that cries for aid is mighty and irresistible - 
For who is there that can but reflect that the 
salvation of a soul in western wilds though 
tenanting a log cabin is as much an object of 
concern to Jesus Christ as the most cultivated 
man in a New England city ? We must, and 

26 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 

through Divine grace will, do something." This, 
and other editorials from David Marks and 
William Burr, together with selections from 
''Peck's Guide to Emigrants" and Dr. Lyman 
Beecher's book on the West, gave the issues of 
The Morning Star at that time a new outlook. 
This paper, started in 1826 in Limerick, 
Maine, and moved to Dover, N. H., in 1833, 
was the organ of the Freewill Baptists ; and as 
we scan the pages of those early numbers we 
read in the constant reports of revivals and the 
earnest defence of Scripture truth the spiritual 
character of that denomination. It was this 
paper that, next to the Bible perhaps, influenced 
Ransom Dunn most at this time. The publica- 
tion of Finney's lectures on revivals and other 
articles of like nature stirred his heart, but it 
was this plea for the great West that rang in 
his ears continually. It was to those who had 
gone where churches were few, and pastors 
and evangelists were needed, that he felt called 
to go and preach. He says, ''This conviction 
never left me, although the reasons against it 
seemed irresistible. I knew my ability was in- 
adequate, the means for an education impossible, 

27 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

inflammation of my eyes unfavorable for study, 
and that my parents with their estimate of 
ministers would be shocked at any such notion. 
1 had never seen a Freewill Baptist supported 
in the ministry, nor a Freewill Baptist house 
of worship, choir, or Sabbath school. Nothing 
but the conviction of duty and the promises 
of God could furnish the least encouragement. 
A year of conflict ensued between the convic- 
tion of duty and the impossibility of its per- 
formance. Having concluded to leave the whole 
matter to the Providence of God, I was about 
to open the subject to my father when he 
was suddenly taken sick and died in 1835. 
But my sisters were settled with their fami- 
lies, my oldest brother a Methodist Episcopal 
preacher, my second brother in school studying for 
the Baptist ministry, and the care of the mother 
and the farm seemed to rest on me. Thus 
another year was passed with the continued 
conviction of duty in regard to my life-work." 
During part of the time, according to his 
father's suggestion he acted as clerk in the 
village store. But it was evident to his em- 
ployer as well as to himself that he was not 

28 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 

adapted to that work. The Lord was opening 
the way for him to go into the life-work He 
had chosen for him. 

At the monthly church conference in August, 
1836, it was voted unanimously, without his 
previous knowledge of such intention, that 
*'the church request the Q. M. to give 
Brother Ransom Dunn license to preach the 
Gospel." Upon the first Saturday of Sep- 
tember, 1836, such license was granted. 
''Thus," he says, ''was I thrust into the field, 
and not daring to resist any longer immediately 
commenced the work, intending to concentrate 
all my study and energies toward that end. " 
His first sermon had been preached at his home 
church at their request, the text being, " Now, 
Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee." 
The council for examination consisted of five 
Freewill Baptists ministers, Perley Hall, Anson 
Kilburn, Amos Davis, Raymond Austin, and 
David Colby. The question was asked, "What 
supernatural evidence have you of a call to 
preach ? " and the answer was, " I have a deep 
and settled conviction that it is a duty, and I 
believe it is the Holy Spirit that produces this 

29 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

conviction." And throughout his whole life he 
never swerved from this position. He felt *' woe 
is me if I preach not the Gospel." That 
evening the moderator called upon him to preach, 
and he took the text, '' Have ye received the 
Holy Ghost since ye believed ? " 

Under appointment as a Quarterly Meeting 
missionary his labors were mostly in Vermont 
that winter, with brief visits to Canada and 
New York. He was gaining in experience and 
was strengthening the churches and there were 
already many calls for his services. But his 
native State was not destined to be the field of 
his labors. The early conviction that it was 
his duty to go West returned with added power, 
and after a struggle in the snowy woods of 
Canada one night, he settled forever the ques- 
tion of his position and place as he said, '' Any- 
where, Lord ! " and turned his face toward the 
great West away from home and friends. 
"Everything was surrendered and God's will 
and truth were satisfactory, regardless of popu- 
larity, policy, or apparent consequences." This 
was his consecration at eighteen years of age, 
and this devotion to God's will and service be- 
came his attitude through life. 

30 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

To travel from Vermont to Ohio in 1837 
seemed more of an undertaking tiian to go to 
Europe to-day. In 1824, Joab and John B. Dunn, 
the half-brothers of Ransom, went to New York 
City to work, and the receiving of their letters, 
telling of their long trip and the great city, 
was an important event in the home ; and their 
death, soon after their return, a shock to the 
community, and a great blow to the father. 
Hiram and Lewis, older brothers of Ransom, 
had been to Massachusetts and Connecticut in 
1831, and their accounts of the events of their 
first long journey were read with great interest. 
As they were driving cattle through, they were 
eleven days on the road, and, passing through 
Rutland, Manchester, and other towns, saw many 
unfamiliar sights. The most wonderful thing they 
saw was a pipe organ; another beautiful sight was a 

31 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

peacock, which they called ''a turkey with a col- 
ored tail three feet long." Rye bread instead of In- 
dian ^as the staple diet, and a queer pie *' made of 
a stalk like dock weed" (rhubarb) was anew 
luxury. The fashionable ladies with ''panta- 
lets " were described to the sisters. Working 
for twelve dollars a month, and sometimes four 
dollars a week, they made enough during the 
summer to return with store clothes on and 
money in their pockets, to be the envy of the 
other boys in the neighborhood who had not 
traveled. 

But this proposed journey of the younger 
brother Ransom was a different matter. It was 
neither for business nor pleasure, and it was so 
far they could hardly expect to see him again. 
The mother parted from him with tears, giving 
him as she thought her last good-bye. He set- 
tled his father's estate, and took his part, thirteen 
dollars, to prepare for his trip. He had ex- 
pected to go with Jairus Davis, who had been 
to Ohio the previous year, but Mr. Davis was 
at that time successfully conducting revivals in 
Vermont and thought best not to leave. His 
brother Kinsman decided to go, but he was 

32 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

young and inexperienced in travel. Two wom- 
en going to western New York were placed 
under the care of Mr. Dunn. The party went 
by stage-coach to Saratoga, where they had their 
first ride on a railroad, a line of twenty miles 
having just been built. The cars were like stage- 
coaches, the road was a single track with flat rail, 
and the train went ten miles an hour. The con- 
ductor stood on the side of the car to take fares 
and to watch for the coming of the other train. At 
the Pan-American Exposition this year a similar 
train is to be seen in the railway transportation 
exhibit, the ''De Witt Clinton," whose little 
engine presents a striking contrast to the im- 
mense locomotive of modern construction by its 
side. At Schenectady they reached the Erie 
Canal, which was to take them to the Great 
Lakes. 

They stopped at Rochester and heard Elder 
David Marks preach, and Mr. Dunn received his 
cordial God-speed to his new field of labor. The 
wife of David Marks, now Mrs. Hills, recalls the 
early acquaintance and lifelong friendship of David 
Marks and Ransom Dunn, and says, **They were 
congenial spirits^ alike in their consecration to the 

33 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

work of their chosen denomination ; they were 
alike in their almost incessant labors, in their zeal 
and earnestness in preaching and their consuming 
passion for the salvation of souls." After Mr. 
Mark's death in 1845, M^- Dunn wrote to his wife, 
'' I mourn as I never before mourned for any min- 
ister. I read his ' Narrative ' with deep interest 
soon after my conversion and it produced an anx- 
ious desire for more holiness of heart and higher 
attainments in the Christian life. After my call 
to the ministry, I read it again and the effect was 
deepened. Much of my usefulness — if there are 
any useful spots in my life — can be attributed to 
that peculiar sympathy for sinners and anxiety 
for their salvation which was wrought in my 
heart by reading his ' Narrative ' more than any 
other book except the Bible. ' ' After their Sunday 
at Rochester with Elder Marks, our travelers went 
on to Buffalo, where they took a steamer for Con- 
neaut. The whole trip took nine days and cost 
eight dollars, which Mr. Dunn was obliged to 
borrow of a friend. 

Leaving the steamer at Conneaut, he took 
his little trunk on his back, climbed over the logs 
at the landing, and made his way to the home of 
34 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

Silas Davis, an older brother of Jairus and Kins- 
man. He felt the reception a little cool. The 
country was new, several young preachers had 
visited that section, — some of them not well 
qualified to be of service to the cause, — and the 
good brethren looked a little askance at this boy 
preacher from the Green Mountains. He was 
too modest to tell of his own work, so he went 
into the corn field to work for his board for a few 
days, determined to wait till the approaching 
session of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Yearly 
Meeting and prove his call. The meeting came. 
The stranger attended, sat on the back seat, 
and when opportunity was offered arose and 
spoke. The ministers and congregation felt the 
thrill of suppressed power in the speech of this 
frail looking young man, and all eyes were turned 
upon him as he quietly took his seat and bowed 
his head in prayer. The moderator of the meet- 
ing was Rev. Josiah Fowler, father of Spencer 
J. Fowler, afterward professor in Hillsdale Col- 
lege. At the close of the prayer service. Elder 
Fowler and Elder Wire came to him and said, 
"You are to preach the sermon." "Oh, I 
can't," he said, "and yet that's what I came 

35 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

for." A few moments of prayer and thought in 
the open air, and he went to the platform and 
spoke with powerful effect from the text : " Cast 
me not away from Thy presence, and take not thy 
holy spirit from me. Then will I teach trans- 
gressors thy way, and sinners shall be converted 
unto thee." Prophetic words! At the close of 
the service, a fine looking elderly lady came up 
to him and said, **I heard a voice say, 'Behold 
thy son!' Come to my home." She was a 
widow, Mrs. Hause, a good Christian lady who 
lived in a comfortable house which for a time 
became his home. 

Rev. J. B. Davis had written from northern 
Ohio the previous year: "Religion is in a low 
state. We want men who have been called of 
God, willing to face cold storms, travel muddy 
roads, lodge in log houses, — men who have the 
grace of God, and whose faces are set as a flint 
toward Zion. I believe God is calling some to 
come to Ohio." Could he have better described 
the one God was calling — Ransom Dunn? And 
now he was here, and the work was ready for 
him. Elder Wire made an appointment for him at 
Lenox, and other places asked for his services. At 

36 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

these first meetings small collections were taken, 
amounting to about nine dollars, so he could pay 
the debt for his trip from New England to Ohio. 
He tells us that "at the next session of the 
Ashtabula Q. M., held at Mecca in Trumbull Co., 
August, 1837, a request for my ordination, voted 
and presented without my knowledge, from the 
Lenox church, was considered. And as the coun- 
cil and conference unanimously approved, and as 
I had settled it as a rule of life never to seek 
responsibility of place or office, nor to refuse to 
attempt what Providence and the church might 
demand, the decision of the Conference was 
executed." He was appointed to preach the 
sermon after the council, which he did, speaking 
on Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones. His jour- 
nal shows that that night was a sleepless one. 
He wept and prayed as he thought of the re- 
sponsibility laid upon his life ''being set apart 
at his early age for the work of the ministry 
and the administration of the ordinances." 
Sunday morning, August 20th, the day ap- 
pointed for the ordination, the journal tells 
us, ''was a beautiful morning, and as I walked out 
and beheld the beauties of nature and considered 
37 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

my past life and future prospects, very solemn 
feelings passed through my mind. I felt a con- 
viction that it would be my duty to address the 
people that morning — though why I should with 
other older ministers present I did not know — and 
after praying earnestly that the Lord would help 
me in a remarkable manner if called upon, I 
started for the block meeting-house and met the 
moderator, who said, 'You are to preach first this 
morning,' and if ever the Lord helped me he did 
then." No house could hold the great audience 
that gathered from the surrounding country, and a 
hastily constructed platform in an open space 
made the pulpit from which the young candidate 
with earnest face pleaded with souls as he spoke 
from the text, "The Spirit and the Bride say, 
dome." Sinners were awakened to conviction 
and backsliders were turned to duty. Among 
these was the brother-in-law of Silas Davis, A. 
K. Moulton, who became a brilliant preacher, 
forceful writer, and energetic worker in the de- 
nomination, and his son the president of Kio 
Grande College. 

But the hour arrived which he called "the most 
momentous of my life, and the trials and re- 

38 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

sponsibilities of a Christian minister came before 
my mind, and I could only cry in the humility 
of my soul, 'My Lord and my God.' " The or- 
dination sermon -was preached by Rev. Samuel 
Wire, the text being 2 Cor. 3 : 6. Prayer was 
offered by Rev. Dan H. Miller, the charge was 
given by Rev. Josiah Fowler ; and the young 
preacher went from the green of Mecca to his 
next appointment and to others, as Providence 
opened the way — an ordained minister, but the 
same humble, devoted evangelist, using every 
opportunity to present the gospel of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

A few quotations from his journal will show 
the character of his life and work. "Thursday.. 
This morning I chanced to fall in company with 
a young man walking from New Lyme to Cole- 
brook. After conversing with him for a time, 
I urged upon him the claims of God, and the 
necessity for giving himself at once to him, and 
invited him to turn aside with me into the grove, 
where I prayed for him. He then prayed for 
himself for the first time, and promised to live 
a Christian life." ''Friday. Spent most of the 
day studying and writing. Attended a prayer 

39 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

meeting in the evening." ''Sunday. Attended 
a meeting at a large schoolhouse. More tlian 
half the congregation could not get into the 
house." A frequent entry is, "Spent the fore- 
noon in meditation and prayer," and almost 
every day that has not meetings records ''visited 
several families," with interesting incidents of 
personal conversation and prayer, and results 
following in reclaiming backsliders or leading to 
decision for Christ some unconverted one. Not- 
withstanding the incessant labors in public work, 
he found time for much study, and was system- 
atic in keeping memoranda of texts used ; of 
travel, with the kind mention of homes where 
he was entertained ; of donations received in 
money and articles. 

Usually he walked to and from his preaching 
places. It is related that, on one occasion, night 
overtook him in the woods and he lost his way. 
It was winter and the snow was drifting. He 
did not dare to sit still, he dared not go on into 
the depths of the forest, so he found a large tree 
and continued walking around it all night. But 
it was one of the most peaceful nights of his 
life, he said afterward, for he felt the presence 

40 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

of God himself with him. After a time he suc- 
ceeded in getting a horse and saved rnuch time 
and strength for his work. At one time he had 
an appointment at Trumbull, and had to ride 
fifteen miles in the midst of a pouring rain. It 
was in the autumn, and the falling leaves had 
obliterated the winding path, and fog and mist 
grew so dense that he could not see. His voice 
could not be heard by distant settlers, and this 
section was known to be infested with wolves. 
The prospect was dreary, for night was coming 
on. He concluded to let the horse find his own 
way out, but found the horse sinking in mud, 
and even though he used his hand and whip to 
defend himself the branches of trees often struck 
his face. So he dismounted, felt for a large 
tree, and taking his saddle for a seat placed 
himself as comfortably as possible for the night. 
*'In this gloomy situation," he says, '*! found 
the promise, *Lo, I am with you always,' ver- 
ified in a remarkable manner. Occasionally the 
rustling of the leaves reminded me that the wild 
beasts were not far off, and branches of trees 
fell very near me, but the tree under which I 
sat was not broken by wind or lightning. In 

41 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

the morning, by winding my way around the 
logs, I was directed by a kind Providence to- 
wards inhabitants, and by ten o'clock was seated 
by a good fire and given refreshment." Again 
in the winter he had a narrow escape from death. 
*'It was a cold and blustering day, but I had 
an appointment at Charlestown. I had ridden 
about a mile, when we met a man with a wheel- 
barrow, which terrified my horse and caused him 
to turn so quickly as to roll the saddle upon his 
side, and while trying to save myself from fall- 
ing the girth unbuckled and I was thrown upon 
the ground, which was frozen. My horse's feet 
came directly over me, but I was mercifully 
spared, and went on my way. When I arrived 
at my destination my clothes were covered with 
ice, and I was chilled through. This is a speci- 
men of the ease of a traveling minister." It 
was a life of faith and dependence on God. 
One day as he was riding along, he noticed that 
his trousers were well worn and knew that he had 
no others and no money to buy any, and he told 
the Lord about it. As he came to a field a man 
recognized him and said : " How are you getting 
along? Isn't there something I can do for you? 

42 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

Don't you want some new clothes? You know I'm 
a sort of tailor." He got off from his horse 
and had his measures taken for a new suit. 

But the greatest compensations were in the 
spiritual results. His first baptism was at Wayne 
and he thus reported it. **I had the privilege of 
leading five happy converts into the river. This 
being the first time I had administered the or- 
dinance, I felt something of a trembling, but re- 
alizing where my trust was, I ventured forth, 
and the Lord helped me and caused me to rejoice 
with joy unspeakable, as also all the candidates. 
This I rank with the happiest days of my life." 
Many of the meetings were held in schoolhouses, 
but some in the homes of the people. The 
wife of Rev. Samuel Clawson, now living in Iowa, 
remembers a meeting in her house when it was 
so crowded that they knelt on her kitchen table 
to pray. Rev. N. W. Bixby, who tells this 
story, says, ''Thedear old lady delights to tell 
of the great reformation in that town at that 
time." 

The places visited the first season were Lenox, 
New Lyme, Trumbull, Green, Williamsfield, and 
other communities in Ashtabula and Trumbull 

43 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

counties. In the winter he was called to 
Medina county, and the first of a series of 
glorious revivals took place at LaFayette. 
Among the converts were Mr. and Mrs. Field, 
the father and mother of Mrs. A. F. Johnston, 
the lady principal of Oberlin College. A church 
of forty members was organized in this place, 
the first church organized by Ransom Dunn, and 
the first church planted in that town. Exten- 
sive reformations also occurred at Westfield, 
New York, and Seville. One of his helpers in 
Medina county was S. B. Dyer, son of Rev. 
S. B. Dyer, of New Hampshire. His daughter 
remembers the services in the log schoolhouse 
at LaFayette, when the men stood, and the 
children sat in the little chairs which had been 
brought for them in the wagons, the women 
occupying the school benches and other seats 
provided for the occasion. Others who lived 
too far to attend, or were too small to go, eagerly 
anticipated the occasional visit of the preacher, 
when his conversation at the table, his leading 
of family prayer, were remembered and discussed 
for a long time after. One lady has the thirty- 
seventh Psalm marked in her Bible " Elder 

44 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

Dunn's Psalm " because, she says, from child- 
hood it has been her remembrance of him and 
its lesson of trust so like him always. 

In 1838 Trumbull, Williamsfield, and Wayne 
were the scenes of great revivals. At these pro- 
tracted meetings, as they were called, he often 
preached three times a day. During this year he 
had three hundred and sixty-five meetings and 
traveled over three thousand miles. At Wayne 
there were one hundred conversions, fifty com- 
ing forward for prayer after a single sermon. It 
is related that some of the converts in these meet- 
ings gave their jewelry to the preacher to use for 
the cause of Christ. He sold it as requested, 
and gave the money to the missionary field. 

In January, 1839, a Christian man in the town 
of Cherry Valley offered to heat and furnish with 
seats the upper story of a large wood house, if 
Elder Dunn would come for a two days' meeting. 
He came, and found every available space filled in 
this hall. Four hundred people were waiting the 
message of God from this Spirit-filled preacher. 
For eight days this was the very gate of heaven 
to these anxious souls. As a result of this Pente- 
cost over one hundred were baptized and gathered 

45 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

into a church. Among them were several who 
became ministers, S. F. Smith, E. D. Lewis, the 
Woodworth brothers, and others. Rev. E. H. Hig- 
bee says of this revival at Cherry Valley : ** I have 
never been in any meeting before or since of such 
depth and power, nor of so wide extent, for it 
extended over ten townships. They came for 
miles in all directions to hear the Word of God, 
and out of that revival sprang a score of minis- 
ters directly and indirectly." Rev. Jairus E. 
Davis had returned to Ohio and held some meet- 
ings with Mr. Dunn. At Berg Hill nearly fifty 
were baptized and formed into a church. ** At 
Richmond," Mr. Dunn says, ''there was not a 
praying man three months before in the whole 
district. Fifty, and many of them heads of fami- 
lies, were led to Christ." 

Dr. G. H. Ball, president of Keuka College, 
gives an account of some of the meetings where 
he first heard him preach. *' One was in Green, 
Trumbull county, in which Rev. D. L. Rice and 
many others were converted. Though I heard 
him only twice, his rapidity of thought, forceful 
utterance, and magnetic power impressed me 
deeply. He was only a year older than I, but 

46 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

appeared more mature, and was judged by people 
generally to be at least twenty-five instead of 
twenty years of age. He had then been preach- 
ing fully two years. His language was elegant 
and strong, his sentences well formed, statements 
lucid, illustrations vivid, and manner animated 
and graceful. The young men who listened to 
criticise pronounced him a natural born orator, 
with the hot blood of Scotch, Irish, and Yankee 
in his veins. The following year I was teaching 
in Mercer county. The school was large, with 
the majority of the scholars sixteen to twenty 
years of age. After a while it was announced that 
Elder Dunn was coming, and I at once told my 
pupils that a sweeping revival was imminent, for 
* that Dunn is a concrete tornado.' The effect 
of his presence and sermons was all my prophecy 
suggested. Scores were converted in a week. 
Among the converts were J. S. Manning, the 
apostle to the freedmen, and myself. For several 
years after this I seldom saw or heard him, as I 
was at school, but his reputation filled the air on 
the Western Reserve. Among all denominations, 
he was sought on every hand for revival meet- 
ings." 

47 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

There were many exhibitions of deep feeling 
during these meetings, but that it was real con- 
viction of sin and the influence of the Holy Spirit 
was evident from the changed lives and from the 
permanent results. Some of the Free Baptist 
churches then formed exist to-day. Other con- 
verts went into other denominations, and many 
churches in that section owe their foundation to 
the consecrated labors of this pioneer evangelist. 
And the young men who, through his influence, 
were not only led to Christ but into the Gospel 
ministry, went into other States and built up 
churches. A lady who taught in some of these 
places years afterward, said, '' It was my privi- 
lege to meet many who took their first steps 
heavenward through your influence, and to see 
the lasting good on these communities of your 
meetings and conversations." Mrs. Temperance 
Hyde of New Lyme, who knew him intimately, 
wrote to him in late life: ''When you came to 
Ohio you were called * the boy preacher,' but 
you were not a babe in Christ, for you were 
strong in the Lord, and God's blessing followed 
you wherever you went. You sowed your seed 

48 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 




The Boy Preacher. 



in the early dew, harvested your grain while the 
sun was up, and now as the shadows are falling 
you are taking in your sheaves." 

It is interesting to note that he not only started 
these converts in the Christian life, but continued 
his assistance and kept their friendship, as we 
shall see as we meet them in Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, Illinois, New York, and elsewhere, and his 
letters show that so long as they lived they were 

49 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

his loyal friends. The wife of D. L. Rice relates 
that after his ordination by Elder Dunn, as his 
old friends loved to call him, Mr. Rice was ap- 
pointed to preach his first sermon at Lenox, and 
Elder Dunn went with him to encourage him. 
He told him he would be glad to let him stand on 
him if it would do him any good. His converts 
were noted for their earnest labor, and were well 
grounded in the faith. 

It was astonishing how soon the unknown boy 
from the Vermont hills had become the acknowl- 
edged leader in the religious life of that country 
and known throughout the denomination. His 
name was now mentioned first in all accounts of 
quarterly and yearly meetings, and his few and 
brief letters given prominent place in the Star 
columns. It will be interesting to quote from 
some of these letters in regard to the work as he 
saw it at the time. He writes to Mr. Burr from 
LaFayette, May, 1838: "Perhaps it would not 
be entirely uninteresting to some of the readers 
of your periodical, and particularly those with 
whom I have had acquaintance in the eastern 
country, to hear something from the youth in 
whose welfare they seemed to manifest some 

50 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

degree of interest. Last June, after passing 
through a trying scene in parting with a large 
circle of relatives, I bade adieu to the hills and 
vales of Vermont. Although but a youth, in my 
nineteenth year, I felt to trust in that God that 
directed and sustained David. By his direction 
I found my way to the Ashtabula Quarterly Meet- 
ing, where I spent the season ; and then, after 
spending a few weeks in Portage and Geauga 
counties, I went to Huron county, where I tarried 
four weeks, mostly in Hartland, where the Lord 
saw fit to revive his work. Then I came to this 
place and was joined by Elder J. E. Davis. A 
number have been baptized and a church organ- 
ized. In accordance with a request from West- 
field, we held a meeting in that place, which lasted 
seventeen days. Scores were seen flocking to 
the altar for prayer, whose heartfelt sighs bespoke 
the anguish of their hearts. But soon the song 
of the happy convert was heard which gladdens 
the hearts of saints on earth, and causes angels 
in heaven to rejoice. It is estimated that one hun- 
dred in these two places, who a few weeks ago were 
on the broad road to destruction, are now on their 
way to heaven. Thus a work is commenced 

51 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

which it is hoped will spread over this whole sec- 
tion, for a vast field lies before us, in which field 
may God grant that I may humbly, devotedly, 
and laboriously spend my days." A glimpse of 
the reverse side of the picture is given in a letter 
from Rev. J. E. Davis, in which he says: " We 
hear the Macedonian cry from adjoining towns, 
but we are much worn out and our health is rather 
poor. But we propose to die in the vineyard of 
the Lord." And Mr. Dunn's journal tells how 
he was so exhausted with meetings and lack of 
rest that he slept while he rode on horseback 
from one place to the next appointment, and 
gratefully acknowledged the kindness of friends 
who sheltered, in the windy, snowy day and cold 
night, the fatigued and homesick wanderer. 

Rev. M. R. Kenney, who was converted under 
the preaching of Rev. Ransom Dunn, in one of 
these schoolhouse meetings, near Ashtabula, in 
1842, when asked the reason for the remarkable 
power of this preacher replied : '* The great rea- 
son for his success was his earnest, eloquent en- 
forcement of God's claims, which struck convic- 
tion to the hearts of his hearers. The extent of 
his influence can never be measured, but it can 

52 



EVANGELISTIC WORK IN OHIO 

never die." Something of the methods used, in 
addition to this searching presentation of God's 
truth, can be inferred from this quotation from 
one of his letters, speaking of his meeting at 
Cherry Valley: *' After one sermon to converts 
seventy-five or eighty arose in quick succession 
and spoke of peace in believing, which they had 
found during this series of meetings." On an- 
other occasion he spoke of **the simplicity of 
measures employed. All who were willing to 
converse freely upon the subject of religion were 
asked to occupy seats in front, and thus most 
were personally conversed with." Of the real 
preparation that brought the result, only God can 
fully know. It was the incessant study of the 
Bible on horseback, in the grove, in his room. 
It was the days of fasting and prayer, the strug- 
gles alone with God in the woods, when like 
Jacob he cried, " I will not let thee go, except 
thou bless me," and like him he had ''power 
with God and with men, and prevailed." 

One who heard him in these days says : " His 
preaching was like the tender beseeching of our 
dear Lord. He had no ' holy tone ' like the 
Baptists of those times, but more than filled its 

53 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

place by pathos and forceful argument. His 
preaching was a contrast to the cold, dogmatic, 
literary style of the Congregationalists we had 
heard, and the generalissimo style of the Metho- 
dists. It was not denunciatory, but tender and 
sympathetic and Christly, and yet it was power- 
ful. It was like the charge at Balaklava— few could 
withstand its force." Dr. Ball gives the secret 
of it in these words : '' His supreme desire was 
to win souls to Christ. His enthusiasm in this 
line of work was all masterful. To win souls 
was the purpose of his everyday life. He thought 
about it, prayed over it, planned for it. He stud- 
ied his Bible and constructed his sermons with 
this sole result in view. His whole being was on 
fire to accomplish this one end ; consequently his 
sermons and appeals were all but irresistible. Yet 
he was always fond of metaphysical discussion and 
subtle argument, and delighted in sharp distinc- 
tions and clear definitions, and excelled in strong 
statements, and by forceful diction and sweep of 
emotion he carried his hearers as by storm. They 
could scarcely resist his appeals or question the 
conclusiveness of his rapid logic." 



54 



IV 



A HOME IN OHIO— GEAUGA SEMINARY— EASTERN 
PASTORATES. 

When the lad left the old home, it was with 
the promise that if alive he would come back to 
his mother in three years. His letters show that 
he never forgot her nor the old home. He wrote 
to her in September, 1838, as follows: " Having 
learned that I have an opportunity of sending 
free — the first since I left home — I thought it must 
be improved. Notwithstanding I have ridden six 
miles since dark, and feel more like sleeping than 
writing, yet an opportunity of conversing with 
mother, even after ten o'clock at night, would be 
one of the greatest privileges. In August I went 
to Marion county, and rode through a beautiful 
country. It is truly a pleasant sight to stand and 
gaze over a prairie comprising thousands of acres, 
covered with crops such as are not found in Ver- 
mont, with the occasional woodlands. I passed 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

by one farm on which I counted eighty stacks of 
hay. While in Huron county I went through a 
cornfield where some of the ears were higher 
than my head. But after all, Vermont is still 
home to me. I wish brother Lewis would come 
out and see the Western country and me." In 
the summer of 1839 he wrote her : '' Since I last 
sent a letter to you I have met with hundreds of 
individuals and passed through a variety of scenes, 
but all these various incidents have not in the 
least erased from the page of memory your coun- 
tenance nor kindness. . . . My health has not 
been quite as good as usual lately, and I have 
been afflicted with hoarseness, but not sufficient 
to prevent me from holding meetings. 1 find 
many warm-hearted friends. 1 am now at Cherry 
Valley, where I organized a church in April, which 
now numbers seventy-five. They have purchased 
a site and propose to build a meeting-house of 
their own. The one they now use holds nearly five 
hundred people, and has been crowded every Sab- 
bath that I have been in town, and some have been 
baptized every Sabbath 1 have had a meeting 
here. They wish me to preach for them regularly 
for a year, once in two weeks, and have sub- 

56 



A HOME IN OHIO 

scribed $120, besides my board. They are ex- 
ceedingly anxious to have me settle with them, 
but how long I shall tarry is not certain. Should 
I consent I should have a good home, probably a 
good house to preach in, a good support, a pleas- 
ant, healthful country to reside in. But thus far 
I have calculated to be actuated only by a sense 
of duty, and I am still firmly resolved to pursue 
that course. When duty shall thus call I shall 
make my way to Vermont. Till then, dear 
mother, let us say to Him whose right it is to 
rule, ' Thy will be done.' 1 must say at times I 
am a little homesick, but generally am happy and 
contented, and during the past few months have 
had some as happy hours as I ever had in my life. 
I have received a letter from brother Thomas, 
and want more letters from friends in Vermont, 
Amanda and Harry in particular." 

The three years so full of rich experience were 
almost gone, and in the spring of 1840 he started 
back to Vermont. His oldest brother, Hiram, was 
a circuit preacher of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, with his home at Ferrisburg, Vt. Ran- 
som writes in his journal : *' After many gloomy 
hours on my long journey alone, and having been 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

absent from all my relatives for nearly three 
years, it was with satisfaction not to be described 
that I again beheld the face of my brother. The 
next day, after hearing him in the morning, I 
preached at his request. Being earnestly solicit- 
ed by my brother and others to hold a protracted 
meeting, I at last consented. My health having 
improved while on my journey, I spoke with con- 
siderable ease, but soon my voice became very 
hoarse ; however, I was enabled to go on with 
the meeting, which lasted two weeks. Between 
sixty and seventy persons came forward for 
prayer the first week, and many were hopefully 
converted to God. The next week also saw some 
happy conversions. The people were very kind, 
and my stay in Ferrisburg will long be grate- 
fully remembered." In company with another 
brother, Lewis, who had come to meet him, he 
started for Bakersfield, stopping with a Mr. Prouty, 
at Jericho, from whose house he had made his 
start for the trip to Ohio, and also visiting Rev. J. 
E. Davis on the way. He says: ''As I drew 
near the old farm I passed the old schoolhouse 
where I had sat in school so many days. My 
friends were well and glad to see me, but every- 

58 



A HOME IN OHIO 

thing had changed ; the children were grown out 
of my knowledge, and the older ones fast grow- 
ing aged. But there were some interesting events 
of this week at the old place that will never be 
effaced from memory, and the Sabbath day was 
peculiarly so. My brother preached in the old 
town house in the morning to a good congrega- 
tion. He spoke especially of his anticipated la- 
bors as a missionary in India. In the afternoon I 
spoke to a large assembly. At five o'clock I 
preached at the schoolhouse, and exhorted my 
former associates to yield to Christ. At the close 
of the meeting we repaired to a stream, on the 
banks of which I had stood many a time with the 
fishing line, where I was permitted to baptize six, 
four of whom were my former schoolmates, and 
one was my youngest brother, for whom I had 
had much anxiety the first fall after going to Ohio. 
He said it was my letter, written at that time 
while on my knees, which arrested his attention 
and changed him from a vain, wicked youth to an 
obedient Christian." 

The older brother, Lewis, was at that time 
attending school at New Hampton Academy^ New 
Hampshire, where the lady he afterward married,. 

59 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Miss Lucy Ann Teale, was a student and teacher. 
This academy was in charge of the Calvinistic 
Baptists, and was afterward moved to Fairfax, 
Vermont, where this same Lewis A. Dunn was 
pastor of the church for twenty-nine years, and 
trustee of the institution. Through his influence 
the Freewill Baptists were urged to occupy the 
ground at New Hampton, and opened an academy 
there. Professor Stanton and Rev. L D.Stewart 
were among the first teachers. The Biblical 
School of Whitestown, N. Y., with Rev. J. J. 
Butler and Rev. J. Fullonton as teachers, was 
afterwards located here until it became connected 
with Bates College. A commercial department 
was added to the New Hampton Institute, and 
for many years, under the efficient supervision of 
Professor A. B. Meservey, who has just passed to 
his reward, this school has done a great work. But 
at thetimeof which we write, one three-story brick 
building, in a country village, with no railroad or 
telegraph, was the extent of this school. But 
able teachers were there molding the lives of 
earnest students. Among these teachers were 
Eli B. Smith and J. Newton Brown, men of ac- 

GO 



A HOME IN OHIO 

knowledged ability. Here the young preacher 
from the West came to spend his summer vaca- 
tion. 

Ransom Dunn was a student always and every- 
where. From the days when the little boy 
rejoiced in his first geography over which he 
pored by the light from the old log fireplace, or 
walked three miles to the village to get Rollins' 
History or Josephus, to the time he carried his 
growing library with him in Ohio, studying as 
he went, he was eager for knowledge. And his 
was a logical and analytical mind. He had 
thought out for himself his theology amid skepti- 
cism and Universalism. He had made his own 
commentary by the constant comparing of Scrip- 
ture. But now he had the privilege for a short 
time of sitting down to study, with students and 
teachers, his favorite themes, moral philosophy, 
evidences of Christianity, and natural theology. 
And with his trained memory and habits of atten- 
tion he could do in weeks what others would do 
in months. But this close application soon showed 
its results on the eyes, always weak, and after 
one term he was obliged to give up the study. 
During these weeks at New Hampton he had been 

61 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

in the habit of attending the Freewill Baptist 
churches in the vicinity. The pastor of one of 
them, Ebenezer Fisk, invited him to stop with 
him while resting his eyes, and his son tells us 
that ''with some hesitancy Elder Fisk invited 
this stripling to occupy his pulpit," and he adds : 
*' It was remarkable with what rapidity this hesi- 
tation was wont to vanish when that mouth was 
once open." After he had spoken for them two 
or three times, they gave him a present of eight 
dollars, much to his surprise, and the regard man- 
ifested on short acquaintance deeply touched him. 
He had driven through from Ohio to Vermont, 
and at his brother's suggestion brought his horse 
and carriage to New Hampton, and was thus en- 
abled to attend meetings in various directions on 
the Sabbath, and met the ministers of New Hamp- 
shire and Maine, an acquaintance to be pleasantly 
renewed a little later. 

The last of August Mr. Dunn returned to Ohio. 
During his visit East he had some correspondence 
with Mary Eliza Allen, whom he had met in 1838 
in Williamsfield. This family was related to 
Ethan Allen, of Vermont, of Revolutionary fame. 
The mother had been an invalid, and the daugh- 
02 



A HOME IN OHIO 

ter's reputation as a home maker as well as a 
Christian worker had reached the ears of the 
evangelist before he met her. Her earnestness 
and ability were evident as the meetings pro- 
gressed. She had been sprinkled in infancy, and 
felt it her duty to go forward in believer's bap- 
tism, and so presented herself to him as a candi- 
date for this Christian ordinance. She was a 
highly cultivated woman, with gracious manners. 
On his return to Ohio they were married by 
Rev. D. M. L. Rollin. And the wanderer had 
now a little home of his own. The salary re- 
ceived from his regular appointments was only 
two hundred dollars a year, but gifts in addition 
made a comfortable living. 

He tells a little incident showing how this was 
brought about, and why he was a pastor in a 
home in Ohio instead of a traveling missionary 
in the far West as he expected. It seems that 
the first year he was in Ohio he bought a horse, 
and a good brother signed the note with him, pay- 
able in one year. Just before the pay day he 
returned to Ashtabula county, intending to get 
more time if possible, if not, to give up the horse 
to the endorser, as he was still unable to pay for 

63 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

it. The horse had grown finely, and the en- 
dorser had agreed to pay twenty-five per cent 
advance on cost. ''But before reaching the 
place," Mr. Dunn says, ''the horse was taken 
sick and soon closed his own troubles if not mine. 
I was in debt for a dead horse, no money to pay 
the debt or buy another, and to leave on foot as 
before anticipated for new settlements without 
paying the debt would not be favorable to con- 
science or reputation. In the place where I met 
with this loss the people requested me to preach 
half the time for six months, and agreed to pay 
for the dead horse. I consented to stay, although 
it was hard to give up the Western tour. Using 
the spare Sabbaths for special efforts, I had a two 
days' meeting in Trumbull ; shortly after in Wil- 
liamsfield, where we had a glorious time, and 
where I became acquainted with Miss Eliza Allen, 
who afterward became Mrs. Dunn. A few weeks 
later I held the meeting in Cherry Valley, where 
over one hundred were baptized within a few 
months, a church organized, and pledges taken 
for a meeting-house. Preachers were scarce. I 
was asked to take the pastoral charge, which 
continued for five years. I was married, instead 

64 



A HOME IN OHIO 

of living single like Paul ; was a pastor instead of 
an evangelist as anticipated ; was in Ohio, instead 
of visiting Illinois and then returning to New 
England as expected. The death of that colt 
was apparently God's plan for directing my life, 
and my social and professional position hinged 
upon that trivial event." He might also have 
added, his future life work in a new field of 
activity ; for it was at this time in Ohio that he 
began to pass into his second profession that was 
to occupy so large a part of his useful life — that 
of teacher. 

The Ohio and Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting 
appointed Hon. Samuel Philbrick, Rev. A. K. 
Moulton, and Rev. Ransom Dunn a committee to 
establish an academy at Chester, in Geauga 
county. Mr. Dunn canvassed the county, riding 
more than one thousand miles in its interests. 
He also secured the active interest of David 
Marks in the enterprise. ''The Ohio legislature 
put restrictions into the charter first granted, for- 
bidding the admission of students of color, and 
Elder Dunn joined himself heartily with others 
in protest, and finally a clean charter was ob- 
tained. At that time," Dr. Ball says, "such a 

65 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

result was significant, as the proslavery spirit 
even in Ohio was strong and aggressive." The 
intention was to make it a manual labor school, 
and eighty acres of land were purchased for a 
farm. While the buildings were being erected 
the school opened in 1842, in the church. The 
students paid from three dollars to five dol- 
lars a term for tuition, and boarded in families 
for one dollar a week. The school was named 
the ''Western Reserve Seminary" but afterward 
called "Geauga Seminary." Its first teacher 
was Asahel Nichols. Mr. Marks was trying to 
raise a fund of ten thousand dollars, and suc- 
ceeded in securing most of it in pledges, over 
two thousand dollars having been subscribed in 
Chester, and one hundred dollars donated by the 
Free Baptist Education Society. At this school 
were educated many of the ministers who after- 
ward became leaders in the denomination. Mr. 
and Mrs. Daniel Branch had charge of the school 
from 1845 to 1849, aiid were most devoted in 
their work. They were followed by Rev. Geo. 
H. Ball, who numbered James A. Garfield among 
his pupils. Mrs. Garfield, then Miss Rudolph, 
was also a student here. Rev. George T. Day 

66 



A HOME IN OHIO 

was principal for a short time. Rev. C. B. 
Mills and Prof. Spencer J. Fowler were the last 
principals. When Hillsdale College was estab- 
lished it was thought best to centre the educa- 
tional work there, and through the influence of 
Ransom Dunn and Samuel Philbrick the funds 
and apparatus were turned over to the college, 
the building sold for a public school, and the use- 
ful work of the seminary merged into the new 
and larger institution. 

While our Ohio minister was so busily engaged 
in planting churches and schools in the West he 
was not forgotten in New England. In 1840 
William Burr and others had organized what is 
now the Washington Street church of Dover, 
N. H., and they called Rev. Ransom Dunn to be 
their first pastor. Mr. Burr's first letter had 
reached him just as he was going to New Hamp- 
ton, and urged him to come for a visit if no more, 
to see the church and to preach to them, and 
stated that two hundred dollars had been sub- 
scribed, and one hundred dollars more could be 
secured if he would come to remain. But he had 
felt that Ohio's need was greater, and had gone 
back to labor among the churches there. The 

67 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

work had been heavy, for in addition to his pas- 
toral charge he had numerous calls for special 
meetings, which he never declined if able to go. 
The sickness of his wife's brothers had brought 
added family cares, as the oversight of the 
widowed mother's farm fell upon him. His own 
family had increased by the birth of two boys, 
Newell Ransom at Cherry Valley, July 13, 1841, 
and Francis Wayland in Wayne, Jan. 29, 1843. 
The call to Dover was now renewed, and 
finally accepted for a year. He traveled with 
his own conveyance from Ohio to New England. 
One evening, as he was driving along, his car- 
riage failed in some part and he fixed it as well as 
possible and resumed his journey. But the 
horse would not proceed, and after a little delay 
he decided to turn back to the house just passed, 
and give his horse rest, and wait until daylight to 
repair the carriage, instead of pushing on, as in- 
tended, to a friend's home a little farther ahead. 
He was kindly received, and tarried for the night. 
The next morning he found that just in front of 
the place where they had stopped was a danger- 
ous break in the road. This story is told by Rev. 
N. W. Bixby, then a pastor in Vermont, as **one 

68 



A HOME IN OHIO 

of the many Providences that protected his life 
till his work was done." During his stay at 
Dover the church was completed and paid for. 
The basement was used as the publication house 
of the Morning Star for a long time. This pas- 
torate gave him his first fixed salary, four hun- 
dred dollars. His work was not only in the 
church, though that was constantly increasing, 
but his lectures on temperance and slavery were 
numerous and effective. But he was not satis- 
fied with results of his efforts in direct soul 
saving. He wrote to his mother: "I am aware 
that there are various ways to do good, and that 
a man is not always the most useful when he 
makes the most noise and produces the most ex- 
citement. I am aware, too, that it is not always 
known when we are doing the most, but, leaving 
the event with God, we may know we are doing 
the best we can. But it is my present convic- 
tion that my labors would be more useful in Ohio. 
We are, however, settled in a comfortable home 
and quite contented, and the people manifest 
extreme anxiety for my continued stay." He 
said afterward of this Dover experience: " The 
associations and acquaintances were most agree- 

69 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

able, especially with the church officers ; and 
Brother Burr was the best church deacon I ever 
saw. My attachments for that people were 
strong and lasting, and their success and pros- 
perity have ever been a source of great joy to 
me." 

To quote a former biographer: **Mr. Dunn 
was now twenty-six years of age, known, loved, 
and honored. East and West, and looked upon 
as one of the rising men of the denomination. 
He had a worthy record as an evangelist, a repu- 
tation as a powerful preacher, and now he was 
to widen his sphere of influence and win laurels 
in the new and untried field of teaching.'* 
Geauga Seminary needed him, and the church at 
Chester called him, and he said, '* Having labored 
anxiously and earnestly for the establishment of 
that Western seminary and given encouragement 
to them and the church there of future help, I 
felt obliged to accept their call." 

He was at this time recording secretary of the 
Home Mission Society, and at their annual meet- 
ing in October, 1843, the stirring words with 
which he closed his report made a strong impres- 
sion : '' Dear brethren, something must be done 

70 



A HOME IN OHIO 

now. Unless we awake and go into this great 
Western field the harvest will perish, souls be 
lost, God dishonored, and we condemned." His 
voice was heard, too, in the Education Society, 
the voice of the future teacher in seminary and 
college, urging the education of the ministry; 
but, lest he should be thought to belittle the work 
of those who had not the chance for education, 
he added : " The first impression made upon my 
heart was by one called to preach after he was 
forty years old and with no opportunity for edu- 
cation. But the power of the Holy Ghost was 
with him. Let us have such preachers." The 
General Conference met at Unadilla Forks, N. Y., 
that year. David Marks thus reports one speech 
of Ransom Dunn : '' The pressing invitations to 
come to the West have not been urged without a 
feeling response in my heart. I have felt deeply 
for all our benevolent institutions, foreign mis- 
sions, education, and antislavery, but for home 
missions more, because on its success depends in 
great measure all the others. At the East I have 
fared well. The brethren's hearts have been 
open and they have been liberal. Good offers 
were held out to induce my stay. But I could 

71 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

not rest. A cry was in my ears from the West, 
and I am now on my way again to that field of 
labor. I am ashamed that I have accomplished 
no more, yet it is interesting to see in that sec- 
tion five thousand members where there were 
two thousand. To that land, and even beyond 
to the cabins of the wilderness, I hasten with 
delight. Farewell, Brother Burr, and others 
with whom I have taken sweet counsel. The 
widening field calls us to separate for a season." 
One who heard eye-witnesses tell of this occa- 
sion, says: **It was a most impressive scene 
when this young man, slight of form, smooth of 
face, nervous in speech and manner, pleaded for 
home missions. He knew both East and West. 
At that time honor and preferment invited the 
Christian minister to Eastern fields. Hardship, 
unending toil, and scanty remuneration were the 
reward of him who cast his lot with the West. 
But only the clear light of eternity can reveal all 
that it meant when Ransom Dunn gave his life to 
the cause of Christ in our great West." 

Among the interested listeners to this impas- 
sioned speech was a young man who had come 
with David Marks and his wife from Ohio, a 

72 



A HOME IN OHIO 

long horseback journey, to attend this General 
Conference. His name was Edmund B. Fair- 
field. He was a graduate and tutor of Oberlin 
College, and was now entering upon his first 
work for the Free Baptists. These two young 
men, Fairfield and Dunn, were to meet again, 
not only in denominational gatherings, but in the 
arduous task of founding a college. 

While he was attending this conference the 
wife and little boys had gone by rail and stage 
from Dover to Fairfax for a visit, and at its close 
the family went on to Ohio, where in November 
he became a pastor of the church at Chester, and 
had constant accessions to its membership while 
he remained. He gave a series of lectures on 
natural theology in the seminary, and taught a 
class in moral science ; and was heard in various 
places in lectures against slavery and infidelity. 
A revival at Chagrin Falls brought out seventy- 
five converts, but he was obliged to close the 
meeting on account of his health. The raw 
winds from Lake Erie, together with the contin- 
uous speaking, brought on throat trouble, and a 
change of climate was recommended. "The 
church at Great Falls, N. H., had been shattered 

73 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 




Rev. Ransom Dunn. 1845. 



with severe trials and needed a discreet and able 
pastor, and it was believed Ransom Dunn was 
just the man," a record tells us. And he him- 
self says : " When those who knew the situa- 
tion wrote that it seemed the only hope of the 
church, the call was accepted, and from 1845 to 
1848 we enjoyed there a precious work of grace. 
About two hundred professed faith in Christ, but 

7-i 



A HOME IN OHIO 

the loss of a factory dam sent many to their 
homes, so that only one hundred united with our 
church." A letter written at that time thus tells 
the story: "Our large meeting-house is fre- 
quently crowded, and when the congregation is 
dismissed for a season of prayer and conversa- 
tion with anxious souls, over two hundred often 
remain. Last evening, after testimony from 
sixty who had been converted during the revival, 
it was necessary to prevent others from taking 
part because nearly one hundred were waiting 
for personal conversation." The love of the 
people of Great Falls for him is well shown in 
the following letter from Rev. J. M. W. Farnham, 
a missionary in Shanghai, who knew him at 
this time: "I sat under Dr. Dunn's preaching 
when he was a young man and I was a lad in the 
cotton mills at Great Falls. I looked upon him 
with that love and veneration which nearly all 
felt who came within the sphere of his influence. 
He won my boyish love as an eloquent and de- 
vout man of God, and I have never ceased to 
think of him with affection. I had been out of 
the country twenty years and was visiting at 
Ocean Park. Professor Dunn was to preach in 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

the Temple. I knew I was changed, and could 
not expect to listen to him as I had done so many 
years ago. Was it a boyish fancy ? Must he 
not suffer by comparison with Newman Hall, 
Henry Ward Beecher, Spurgeon, or other elo- 
quent preachers ? I composed myself to listen, 
and with what result ? There was no place for 
comparison or criticism.. I was as enchanted as 
ever with his earnestness and eloquence, which, 
like the magnificent natural scenery of old Leba- 
non, does not suffer by comparison. There was 
no diminution, no dwindling, with my ideal 
preacher, the Rev. Ransom Dunn." The regard 
of the church showed itself in a donation visit, 
whose substantial results were seventy dollars in 
money, besides many useful articles. The pas- 
tor thus acknowledged it: ''Not only does the 
unmerited liberality of the many donors richly 
deserve expressions of gratitude from myself and 
Mrs. Dunn, but the very uncommon religious 
interest calls for eternal praise to God, and will 
often be looked back upon as a green spot in the 
desert of life." The converts showed their in- 
terest in the church as well as the pastor by 
their systematic giving in response to his plans. 

76 



A HOME IN OHIO 

He used to say: *'A cent will make as much 
noise as a quarter in a collection box. Have 
regular weekly pledges." 

These were busy days, not only in pastoral 
duties but in other directions. " Millerism," 
** Come-outism," and "Anti-ism" were disturb- 
ing the peace of the churches ; antislavery agita- 
tion was shaking the country. Men of clear 
brains and forceful speech were in demand. The 
Free Baptists stood openly and boldly for aboli- 
tion principles. While this position for abolition 
of slavery caused them some persecution it also 
won them friends. It was because of their po- 
sition on this question that Otis Robinson Bach- 
eler joined this denomination and became one of 
their pioneer missionaries to India. They had 
organized an Antislavery Society, and at their 
meeting in Lowell in 1845 Ransom Dunn was 
elected president and made chairman of the ex- 
ecutive committee. John P. Hale of New Hamp- 
shire, with others, was protesting against the 
annexation of slave States. ** Candor and good 
sense characterized Pastor Dunn as a helper," 
and his brilliant talents were gladly used in New 
England for the cause of antislavery. 
77 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

The teaching qualities which began to develop 
in Geauga Seminary were not idle here, awaiting 
their larger development in Hillsdale College. 
For the quarterly meetings asked his aid in min- 
isterial institutes, and requested the publication 
of the doctrinal sermons given by request. And 
the informal rneetings of pastors of neighboring 
churches became a regular class for the study of 
theology with Pastor Dunn as leader, meeting 
weekly in his study. One of the most inter- 
ested of this number of earnest students was 
Rev. William Littlefield, whose son is now in 
Congress. He was pastor at Lebanon, Me., 
where he invited Mr. Dunn to assist him in 
special meetings. One of the New Hampshire 
pastors at that time was Rev. G. P. Ramsey, 
whose wife, Vienna G. Ramsey, is still with us, 
and will continue to live, after she is gone, 
through her verses. She writes of Dr. Dunn 
and his influence in the State and denomination 
as follows : *'Of all men whom I have known 
there is not one who has inspired me with greater 
love and reverence. To know him was to love 
him. I remember him as the perfect gentleman, 
the modest but wise counselor, the brilliant orator 

78 



A HOME IN OHIO 

who forgot himself in his love for Christ and the 
church. His presence in our gatherings was 
always a benediction, and we thanked God for 
the gift of such a brother. His influence for 
good remains among the churches of New Eng- 
land that knew him half a century ago." 

At the General Conference at Sutton, Vt., in 
1847, he served on committees on antislavery and 
on the Sabbath. He was heard in brief and 
pointed remarks on temperance and Sabbath 
Schools. The reporter (E. B. Fairfield) said: 
*' Brother Dunn speaks so rapidly it is impossible 
to do him justice in any report. The reporter 
hardly knows which of his words to put down — 
he can't get them all — and very few get down at 
all." These are some of the words he did get: 
** These children will be educated somehow, if 
not religiously, then for death and hell. Impres- 
sions are being made as lasting as eternity. Half 
the labor of mankind is to undo what has been 
done wrong. There are hundreds of children 
and youth in our factory towns that should be 
turned into our Sunday schools.'.' When it came 
to home missions, "Brother Dunn ! " was called 
for by voices in all directions. He gave a vigor- 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

ous address, full of information and prophecy in 
regard to the growth of the West, and closing 
with words of pathos and feeling: 'M am not, 
as some suppose, a native of the West. In New 
England are the grave of my father and the home 
of my widowed mother and my brothers and sis- 
ters. But God drove me West in my youth to 
work in that wide field independent of any so- 
ciety. And, God willing, that field I shall yet 
occupy though circumstances for the present 
have made it duty to labor in the East. The 
moment we fold our arms and cease to make ag- 
gressive movements, we die. We must lengthen 
our cords and strengthen our stakes and stretch 
out into new fields." He little thought how God 
was to send him West this time, and what waves 
of sorrow should roll over his own soul before his 
next missionary work should have its struggles 
and rewards. 



80 



V 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW— BOSTON PASTOR- 
ATE—PROSTRATED 

The spring of 1848 found Pastor Dunn tired 
after a severe winter's work. Invitations to as- 
sist Rev. E. B. Fairfield in Roxbury and other 
pastors in other places had come to him in addi- 
tion to the numerous demands in his own com- 
munity and State. The church at Brockport 
extended him a call to be their pastor. But he 
wrote to his mother : '* Mother Allen's health is 
failing and she feels as though we must be there. 
We may return this summer. The people are 
exceedingly unwilling to have us leave, and if 
mother is willing, we may sell the property and 
bring her here with us next year. My services 
close here in April, and Brother Noyes of Boston 
is very anxious I should supply his desk while he 
visits England." 

81 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Other events, however, were to decide his 
plans. A shadow was creeping over the pastor's 
home in Great Falls. Mrs. Dunn had taken a 
severe cold, and it soon became evident that the 
wife, with her rare intellectual attainments and 
deep piety, was fast sinking with consumption. 
Mrs. Hills, who was then the wife of Rev. E. 
Hutchins, pastor at Dover, tells us, '' Mrs. Dunn 
was a charming, lovely. Christian woman, whom 
to know was to love, a fit partner for an ambas- 
sador of God." Her devotion to her children 
and to her husband's work had been too much 
for the frail body, perhaps. She had tried to 
keep with him in his studies and to be with him 
in his Christian labors, but now she was obliged 
to give it all up. He took her to Boston for con- 
sultation and treatment, and was tenderly de- 
voted in his care. The longing for the old home 
and mother and the hope that change of climate 
might benefit, sent the family back to Ohio in 
May. But no climate or care could prevail. The 
anxious husband tried to throw himself into reli- 
gious work as of old and was gladly welcomed to 
quarterly meeting sessions ; but he could see, as 
could all the sympathizing friends, that the end 

82 



3 =^ 




THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

of the happy home life was near. " On the 4th 
of August, Ransom at seven, Wayland five, and 
baby Cedelia three years of age, with the dis- 
tracted father, stood around the dying bed of a 
victorious saint." To each of the children she 
gave a Bible, with her parting words ; to her 
husband she said, *' Tell them — tell sinners — I 
loved them to the last " ; to her friends at Great 
Falls she sent a message telling of the blessed 
support and consolation of religion in the dying 
hour. When the bereaved husband tried to give 
these messages, he said, '' I can scarcely com- 
prehend the strength of that grace which enabled 
her, with a smile bespeaking more of heaven than 
earth, to say, while swinging out from the promon- 
tory overlooking eternity, as she gazed on the 
abyss below, with an air of perfect triumph, ' All 
is well.' " At the funeral service at Cherry 
Valley and the burial in Wayne, two of her hus- 
band's converts officiated. Rev. D. L. Rice and 
Rev. Rufus Clark. And here we must adopt the 
language of another: ''Biography may portray 
the external, may even picture states of mind in 
developing manhood, but what pen can reveal 
the Gethsemane of a grief-distraught soul ? The 

83 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

torture of the dismembered home, the quartering 
out of the little brood, the leaving of the nest 
through the chill of winter — perhaps some can 
imagine the untold tale." 

A trip West was planned to give weakening 
nerves relief, for " Ashtabula county was no 
longer home," he said, " but one of the most 
gloomy spots on earth." He had learned with 
Lowell, that ''the many make the household, 
but only one the home." A canal boat was taken 
at Warren, Ohio, for Beaver, Pa., and then the 
Ohio River steamer which he describes as " a 
two-story farmhouse with a narrow piazza on the 
side and sawmill wheel behind." He found the 
river '' not as romantic as expected, hills not high 
enough to be sublime nor low enough to be 
cultivated, and piled down close on either bank." 
One of the passengers was Alexander Campbell, 
the founder of the Disciple denomination, " a 
man of dignified sternness." Other interesting 
passengers were a Swedenborgian priest, and 
some soldiers returning from Mexico. The crew 
were rough and profane, the meals poor, and 
progress slow, so that it was a fatiguing journey. 
He passed by Maineville, where good Elder Moses 

84 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

Dudley lived and Elder Hutchins and others had 
labored. The large cities impressed him — 
'* Louisville with forty thousand people and only 
nine churches ; St. Louis with fifty thousand, busy 
and wicked " ; and here he was twelve hundred 
miles from home and yet five hundred miles from 
his destination, and said, '' The farther I go the 
more I am impressed with the vastness of our 
Western country. Ohio is hardly a fair start 
West." From the Ohio he passed into the 
Mississippi, which he followed to Galena and 
then " went thirty or forty miles to see Brethren 
Tourjee, Woodworth, and Eastman, former 
friends in Ohio, and attended several meetings 
where many rose for prayers — the field is al- 
ready white to harvest." Kinsman and Isaac 
Davis had recently purchased land in this section 
of Wisconsin and were making homes, and 
preaching. Racine and Johnston were also 
visited, and the return trip made by the Lakes to 
Cleveland, and the last of October found him 
back in Chester, Ohio, to see the little boys, who 
had been left in the care of friends. His accounts 
of this Western tour, a long and extensive one 
for that time, touching ten States, are now inter- 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

esting to look back upon, showing not only the 
condition of the country in that formative period, 
but his discernment and prophecy regarding its 
future ; and the knowledge of this field thus 
gained was to serve him well in a new work not 
then dreamed of, but already preparing for him — 
a college endowment agency. His stop in West 
Virginia called forth this exclamation : '' My first 
walk on soil cursed with slavery ! Here exists 
the power that tears the image of God from its 
high position and tramples it in the dust." At 
St. Louis he preached in a colored Methodist 
Episcopal church, his '* first privilege of preach- 
ing to poor slaves." His last word of the field as 
he saw it is pathetic : *' My soul sinks within me 
as I look at these great cities growing up and 
these vast stretches of prairie. Where are the 
men ? Where are the means ? May God send 
forth laborers, and open hearts to sustain them." 
But he sees the difficulties — 'Mf there is any 
motto universal it is ' Another 80,' there is al- 
ways another section of land adjoining. Sacrifice 
is needed on the part of emigrants to be willing 
to go to places near church privileges, or to give 
toward building and support of churches, and so 

86 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

stand against this thirst for wealth and greed for 
land." Though on a trip for rest he preached at 
every place where opportunity offered, and his 
visits to the homes of the new settlers and meet- 
ings were ** as cold water to a thirsty soul." At 
Wiota he assisted in revival meetings, where 
about thirty rose for prayer. 

He resumed his pastoral labors at Cherry 
Valley and held special meetings in various places 
during the winter. Eastern friends had not for- 
gotten him, for he received a call to be the pastor 
of the church at Manchester, N. H. Friends 
who had known and respected him before, learned 
to love him still more now. As one of them, 
Rev. G. H. Ball, said : '* His great bereavement 
disclosed new excellences of character. His 
married life had been delightful, and when death 
severed the family ties he felt it keenly. He 
was ardent in his affection, crushed by his sor- 
row, yet serene in his faith and joyous in the 
assurance of the loving care of God. I then 
learned much of his inner life and was led to 
admire his personal virtues, as I had before ad- 
mired his talents and public services." 

87 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Early one morning, as he left the home where 
his little boys were boarding, to go to an appoint- 
ment, he was surprised to see the two little 
fellows following after, carrying their little hair- 
covered trunk between them, and they cried after 
him, '* Papa, we're going with you ; we have 
our things all packed." He tried to explain that 
he was going to a place forty miles away, and he 
was on horseback, but they assured him they 
could " keep up with the horse and wouldn't be 
a bit of trouble." We can imagine how the 
father rode that forty miles in tears and prayers ; 
and are not surprised to learn that he soon settled 
up affairs in Ohio and took the little boys to the 
dearest friend of the mother, who had the little 
girl in her care, and so tried to keep the little 
family together, and near relatives, and where 
he could visit them frequently, for his work was 
now to be in the East. 

He had been requested to go to Cincinnati, to 
Wisconsin, and to Michigan. This was the time 
of the great California gold excitement, and sev- 
eral ministers of his acquaintance were anxious 
to follow the prospecting parties and go as mis- 
sionaries to this new mining country if he would 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

join the company. He was in painful suspense 
in regard to his duty. But the Home Mission 
Board desired him to assist in work in cities in 
the East. Buffalo had been first suggested, and 
then the appointment changed to New York City, 
where Rev. Silas Curtis had been doing some 
preliminary work. In March, 1849, he began 
preaching in Stuyvesant Institute, a disused 
medical lecture room, at 659 Broadway. There 
were fifteen hearers, including the choir, which 
consisted of E. W. Page and wife. A better 
place on Grand Street was soon secured and fur- 
nished, and the congregation rapidly increased, 
and the minister became known and called upon 
in union services in temperance agitation. But 
the church interest in Boston demanded immedi- 
ate attention. The church there urged his com- 
ing and sent a committee to see him, and the 
Board recommended it, and, with his usual prompt 
response to the call of duty, he went in June to 
this important field. A letter says : ** For how 
long is uncertain. The afflictions of the past 
year have taken all of my earthly goods, and I 
can hardly stay longer than expenses can be 
paid, but, hoping for the best, it is my design to 
■* spend and be spent ' for the cause of Christ." 

89 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

But he was not to prosecute this great work 
alone. September first he went to the Httle 
home in Alfred, Maine, where the children had 
already found a new mother, and took Miss 
Cyrena Emery to Dover, N. H., where they 
were married by his friend. Rev. Elias Hutchins, 
his successor as pastor of the Washington Street 
church. Miss Emery was a native of Sanford, 
Me., her ancestors being officers in the army of 
the Revolution. One of them, Noah Emery of 
Exeter, N. H., gave the estates to Dartmouth 
College when it was founded in 1769. He was 
clerk of the Assembly during the Revolution, and 
the records in the State-house at Concord are in 
his handwriting, one of them being the official 
copy, in red ink, of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. Her father and mother had died while she 
and her brother were small, and they had lived 
with their uncle until large enough to go away to 
work or to school. Another uncle, John Storer, 
gave ten thousand dollars for the founding of 
Storer College at Harper's Ferry. It was at 
Great Falls that she first met Mr. and Mrs. Dunn 
and became an inmate of their home while at- 
tending school there. It was to her he turned 

90 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

when the necessity came to go West, and she 
accompanied the failing wife and little children ta 
Ohio, and brought the little girl back with her to 
her brother's home. On Mr. Dunn's return he 
found his little Cedelia improving rapidly under 
her care and tutorage, and devoted to " Mama 
Cyrena." During the summer Ransom had also 
been with her, and whether fishing in the creek 
or giving temperance lectures to the assembled 
children of the neighborhood, the active, nervous 
lad had learned to respect the kind authority of 
this motherly young woman. Wayland had been 
much at the home of one of the members of the 
Great Falls church, Mr. Farnham, but his occa- 
sional visits to Alfred had renewed the acquaint- 
ance with his former friend and his mother's 
friend in the Great Falls home. And so it was 
again a happy home that the pastor now had in 
Boston. Mrs. Dunn entered upon this new life 
and work with some trepidation, but much faith 
in her husband and trust in God, saying, '* I will 
do the best I can and leave the event with 
God," a spirit which actuated them both through 
life. 

91 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

He thus tells the story of his first work in 
Boston : " By advertising in papers and putting 
forth much personal effort, fifty-one people scat- 
tered over old Boylston Hall listened to my first 
sermon. After visiting every available hall in 
the city a better place was secured, and soon 
filled with four hundred and eighty hearers. The 
revival interest increased with the congregation, 
cases of conviction and conversion occurred every 
week for two months, between twenty and thirty 
were added to the church within a few days. In 
the spring of 1850 the Bennett Street church was 
purchased and held subject to a mortgage of only 
six thousand dollars." The salary of the pastor 
was six hundred dollars. It was fortunate that 
Mrs. Dunn was blessed with what Mrs. Stowe 
called " New England faculty," so that her econ- 
omy and industry were able to make this sum 
support the family ; and that his ability was such 
as to win him a place without the influence of 
wealth. 

The active life of this city pastor was a marvel, 
but he was able to accomplish much by system 
and energy. His forenoons were given to study, 
the afternoons to calling on the scattered congre- 

92 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

gation and new members. Mrs. Dunn accom- 
panied him often in these pastoral visits. His 
evenings were devoted to the church meetings 
and personal conversation with converts. He 
found time for much assistance to other pastors, 
churches, and institutions ; for among his letters 
are notes of thanks for books purchased for Rev. 
O. B. Cheney, for himself and for the academy 
in which he was interested ; for like favors for 
Rev. E. B. Fairfield and the new school at Spring 
Arbor, Mich. ; and for Rev. E. H. Higbee and 
other friends in Ohio. Requests came to look 
after young men coming to the city for work ; to 
assist in procuring furniture for churches ; advice 
was asked in regard to ministers. He arranged 
for one or two hundred delegates coming through 
Boston to the General Conference at Providence 
in the fall of 1850 ; made plans for the sailing of 
Rev. R. Cooley and wife, and Miss Crawford to 
India from Boston that season, and procured 
things desired by Dr. O. R. Bacheler that she 
might take to him. Rev. Nathan Woodworth 
wrote from Illinois at this time asking advice of 
" Bishop Dunn " in regard to work in that State 
— a title not inappropriate, perhaps, considering 
93 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

the esteem in which he was held. He received 
an urgent letter from the church at Providence to 
become its pastor, but his heart was in the work 
at Boston. The Christian Observer and other 
papers had occasionally articles from his pen 
which were gladly read by friends at a distance, 
whose oft-repeated remark was, as Mr. Rice said, 
'' Oh, that I could hear Brother Dunn preach 
again ! " 

Among his enthusiastic parishioners in Boston 
was Azael Lovejoy, who was afterward ordained 
and became a pastor at Unity, Me., where he 
baptized George C. Chase, now president of 
Bates College, who says that " The inspiration 
imparted by Ranson Dunn was a living force in 
the ministry of Mr. Lovejoy, who always spoke 
of him with deep emotion." Mr. Dunn was not 
hidden by his multiplied labors for his own 
church and favors for his friends, but his ability 
was recognized by others, for at the Free Soil 
District Convention in 1850 he was nominated 
for representative. 

But in the midst of this encouraging work '* a 
•calamity made an end of plans and almost of the 
planner. The weary pastor was returning in a 

94 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

cab from a baptism. A careless flirt of a driver's 
whip broke Mr. Dunn's spectacles, and drove 
many fragments of glass into his eye. Inflamma- 
tion set in, the sight was endangered. It was a 
desperate fight for the best oculists and phy- 
sicians Boston afforded. The sight was saved, 
but the spare diet, the repeated cupping and 
leeching had weakened the body far beyond what 
was realized. The indomitable will was left, and 
the accumulated work of three months was 
crowded into thirty days. The undermined cita- 
del of nervous strength tottered and fell. The 
twenty pounds of flesh lost was never regained, 
and the shock to the system he never fully out- 
grew." 

During his two years' pastorate he had been 
an interested spectator at surgical operations in 
Massachusetts General Hospital, and an attend- 
ant on the lectures on anatomy and physiology 
by Oliver Wendell Homes, Dr. Reynolds, and 
others at Harvard University. By his study of 
natural theology for more than ten years, includ- 
ing the works of Paley and Godwin, and their 
discussion of the manifestation of intention and 
design in the human system, he had acquired a 

95 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

taste for this scientific study. Now when his 
health failed he secured a manikin, a skeleton, 
and some charts for illustrating lectures upon 
these subjects, and prepared a series of popular 
talks, hoping thus to support his family for a 
time, as he could not preach nor live in the city. 
It was a sad time for him and for the friends of 
the church. They surprised him with a call one 
evening, leaving a purse of eighty dollars as a 
token of their esteem and sympathy. He wrote 
in February, 185 1 : "It was trying to enter the 
ministry, but quite as much so to leave it. But 
when six of the best physicians of Boston say 
that the brain has been taxed to excess, and rest 
is the only remedy, and that it will be a long 
time before the difficulty can be removed, and 
my consciousness sustains their decision, I must 
act upon it. For more than five years I have not 
been free from unusual causes of anxiety and 
occasions for extra exertions. When I went to 
Great Falls it was a question whether that im- 
portant church should live or die. For months I 
struggled, wept, and prayed, day and night. 
The clouds broke. A great revival commenced, 
and for one hundred and five evenings our meet- 

96 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

ing-house was open every evening, and from 
January 15th to May 15th I was out of meetings 
but two evenings. Pecuniary embarrassments 
of the church occasioned anxiety, then sickness 
in the family, and watching the decline of my 
dear wife ; casting a gloom upon my heart and 
shattered nervous system. I then found myself 
in Boston, with not fifty seats taken in the hall. 
After much study and prayer we succeeded in 
securing a commodious house of worship last 
July. But the effort had been too much. I had 
a strange dizziness in the head, a peculiar sensa- 
tion about the heart, a general prostration. I 
struggled on until October, and after rest tried 
again, only to give up. I am too young a man to 
believe myself actually worn out, and yet the 
prospect is dark. But all is in the hands of God. 
For the present I am a rambling, itinerant lec- 
turer. I have no capital to enter business even if 
I could endure the care, I have no trade even if I 
had the strength, I could not labor on the farm. 
The flower and vigor of my life have been spent 
in the ministry and without accumulating any- 
thing. I must now have some honorable, honest 
work for a time, that I can endure. If any blame 
97 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

me it is because they do not understand, but God 
knows my heart. When I am gone my children 
may read this and know how much I loved them 
and how I loved the ministry of Jesus Christ." 

He started on his travels, like Abraham, " not 
knowing whither he went," but with faith in 
God for direction. They moved toward Vermont, 
stopping at small towns on the way. At each 
place he would secure a hall, Mrs. Dunn would 
see that it was in order, the boys would dis- 
tribute small handbills. Usually after the first 
lecture more would be requested and he spoke to 
full houses, and so board bills were paid, and the 
change proved slightly beneficial. A short visit 
was made at the home of his brother in Fairfax, 
and with other relatives near. At their urgent 
request he tried to preach one day, and his 
journal says : ** This one sermon exhausted me 
more than a week of lecturing. In a lecture I 
can be easy and cheerful, but as soon as I begin 
to preach my feelings become deeply impressed 
and the nerves feel the excitement. Even ear- 
nest praying and careful religious thinking affect 
me. What shall I do.? The Lord have mercy on 
me and mine." 

98 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

The decision was made to go West in the 
spring of 1851, and they started early in April, 
taking the Lake steamer at Ogdensburg, stop- 
ping at the Falls, and again taking steamer at 
Ogdensburg, stopping at the Falls and again 
taking steamer at Buffalo, where they had a 
rough passage on Lake Erie across to Conneaut. 
Nearly fifteen years ago he had first landed here, 
an unknown lad, and went to hoeing potatoes and 
corn because people thought him too young to 
preach ; now he came to rest, having done as 
much as many ministers in a lifetime. He was 
cordially greeted in the churches he had organ- 
ized, but he traveled on farther West and in May 
reached Wisconsin, where he intended to invest 
in government land. A niece had accompanied 
him from Vermont, and in her care he left the 
children twenty-five miles west of Racine, while 
he and his wife traveled with horse and carriage 
over Southern Wisconsin, going as far north as 
Lake Winnebago and west to the Mississippi, 
gaining health and strength, and seeking a home. 
He purchased land in Lafayette county in the 
town of Wayne, about thirty miles east of 
Galena, ''hoping that his growing boys might 

99 

LOfC. 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

find a future where their father had been com- 
pelled to bury himself and his hopes in ob- 
scurity." He wrote in August, 1851, to the 
Star: ''When last I wrote you from Boston I 
little thought my address would so soon be within 
thirty miles of the Father of Waters. It is now 
nearly a year since my health failed, and six 
months since I left that field for which I had suf- 
fered more anxiety perhaps than any other in 
my life. It was a painful separation. The 
character and kindness of the members, their 
punctuality in pecuniary matters, and the re- 
sponsibility of their position and magnitude of 
the work could but excite a pastor's feelings to 
the utmost. I felt that any burden was a pleas- 
ure, and if one man's life was requisite to success 
it was not too great a sacrifice. But it was too 
much for me and I was obliged to come West, 
and after a general survey of the country have 
settled here where the outlook is pleasant and 
good land can be bought for one dollar and 
twenty-five cents an acre, and farms with some 
improvement for three dollars to ten dollars. 
I have tried to preach recently, but only once 
a week, but have visited almost every part of 
100 



THE FIRST GREAT SORROW 

the State and preached in nine different places 
in as many different counties." Not only in 
Wisconsin but in the neighboring States of Ohio, 
Illinois, and Iowa he labored, and assisted Rev. 
N. W. Bixby in organizing the Iowa Yearly 
Meeting. 

Tired of traveling, they appreciated their home, 
though it was not a very commodious house, 
for the country was new and the settters obliged 
to build hastily and live simply. But they en- 
joyed the novelty of it all, and had some good 
neighbors, though far apart. Among the neigh- 
bors were the Eastman family, who lived in Ash- 
tabula county, Ohio, when Mr. Dunn preached 
there. They opened their home to him until his 
own was ready for occupancy. Another old 
friend in the vicinity was Mr. Bridgman, who, 
with his wife, was among the converts of the 
great revival in Cherry Valley, and who still 
lives and "cherishes the friendship of Elder 
Dunn, extending over more than sixty years, 
among the most cherished memories of his life." 
His son Charles became a student in Hillsdale 
College, went to the Civil War, and is now a 
leading man in the Legislature of Wisconsin. 

101 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

His last memory of the boy Wayland Dunn that 
he knew in Wisconsin and Hillsdale is on the 
field of Chattanooga. Mr. Dunn made several 
lecturing tours in the fall. In October Mrs. 
Dunn's first child was born, Cyrena Amanda. 
Like other settlers on the frontier, he was poor 
and living in a house which was hardly adequate 
for the blasts that swept across the prairie in 
that exceptionally cold winter. His lectures and 
meetings kept him away from home much of the 
time, the little girl was frail, the mother lonely, 
and the boys restless. A call unexpectedly came 
to a new field of labor ; they prayed over it ; the 
wife said '*Go" — and it became his life work. 



102 



VI 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE — AGENCY FOR 
HILLSDALE — HOME MISSIONARY WORK 

At the session of the Michigan Yearly Meeting 
in June, 1844, the question of higher education 
in Christian surroundings was agitated, and it 
was decided to establish a seminary within the 
bounds of the Yearly Meeting. The school site 
was fixed at Spring Arbor, and Cyrus Coltrin 
made financial agent. In December, D. M. 
Graham, a graduate of Oberlin College, began 
teaching here. He found ''near the old Indian 
burying-ground, in a lovely spot, an old building 
and a half-dozen students." The term closed in 
July, with twenty-five students, and the teachers 
spent the vacation trying to secure funds for ap- 
paratus. In the following winter the old store 
used at first was vacated for the new college 
building, which was occupied by seventy stu- 
dents, and the second building erected and forty 

103 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

acres of land secured. Elias Hutchins com- 
mended the school because it was composed of 
** males and females, and colored people were 
allowed to come, and there was privilege of labor 
for those who wished to so lighten expense," and 
he said most truly: ''This school is the off- 
spring of self-denial and benevolence ; there are 
less than one thousand Free Baptists in Michigan, 
and many of them are in debt for their own land 
or in need of better buildings. Brother Graham 
might have gone into a position for one thousand 
dollars a year, but has received only five hundred 
dollars and endured great care and anxiety. 
Brother J. L. Thompson and others have also 
assumed great responsibilities. One poor minis- 
ter gave four hundred dollars. Young men work- 
ing by the month give fifty to seventy-five dol- 
lars a year." Mr. Graham called on New Eng- 
land pastors for assistance, and no doubt gained 
encouragement from the young pastor, Ransom 
Dunn, at Great Falls, who was giving gener- 
ously to all benevolent enterprises, and neither 
knew that their positions were later to be re- 
versed, Mr. Graham to follow Mr. Dunn in work 
in New York City, and Mr. Dunn to undertake 

104 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE. 

the labor of raising an endowment for the Michi- 
gan college. The anniversary exercises in June, 
1848, were held in a grove of oaks, and the State 
Examiner listened to twelve young ladies in the 
morning and nineteen young men in the after- 
noon, who ''showed originality of thought and 
manliness of bearing found only in institutions of 
the West." He also inspected fifteen classes in 
mathematics, Latin and Greek, and English 
branches. One hundred and twenty-six students 
had attended during the year. 

In October, 1848, Edmund B. Fairfield came 
from Oberlin College to teach, and found a prom- 
ising school and a library of one thousand five 
hundred volumes. It had been the policy of the 
State to grant no charter with college privileges 
except to the State University. But that winter 
the effort for a charter to confer degrees at Mich- 
igan Central College was successful. So 185 1 
found this first college of Michigan, and the first 
to open its doors to black men and to women, 
ready for larger work. With the university fifty 
miles southeast and an Episcopal school seventy 
miles northwest, the only ones with college char- 
ter, there seemed a field for it. One young lady 

105 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

had graduated from the female department, Miss 
Elizabeth D. Camp of Palmyra, N. Y. The 
tuition was only six dollars a term, and board 
one dollar a week. During the year more ap- 
plied for entrance than could be accommodated. 

Money was needed for teachers, for buildings 
and equipment. The thoughts of those inter- 
ested turned to Ransom Dunn. He was West 
with improved health. He had the ability and 
the confidence of the people. Might he not raise 
the money? He had never seen the college, he 
was not familiar with that section of Michigan, 
but when the call came he decided to go to Spring 
Arbor. A sixty miles' drive was necessary to 
reach the railroad. He took his wife and baby in 
his buggy, a man followed with the older children 
and the goods. Through snow and intense cold 
they drove on past Chicago — there was no rail- 
road there yet, it was only a small town — to 
Michigan City. Here the wife and girls took the 
train, while he drove on to Spring Arbor with the 
boys. 

He found that a new and unexpected honor 
awaited him : he had just been elected professor 
of mental and moral philosophy in the college.. 

106 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE. 

At first he was disposed to decline ; he had given 
his life to the sacred calling and considered other 
services only temporary interruptions. But Mr. 
Fairfield urged that his "election had put new 
courage into the enterprise and not to accept 
would discourage all helpers." So he consented 
to take the place for a year. And thus began in 
January, 1852, the work for the Free Baptist col- 
lege of Michigan that was to close only with his 
life. The first classes which he taught were 
those of the senior class, mental and moral phil- 
osophy and political economy. But Prof. Fair- 
field leaving soon to begin canvassing, he was 
obliged to take logic and rhetoric and natural 
philosophy, and others during the year, thus 
teaching five classes daily, and thirteen different 
studies. He also corrected essays of the students 
and heard their declamations. Some of the 
criticisms are characteristic. On one long article 
he wrote, "Life is short"; on another, "Too 
much 'I'"; one student was advised to put 
"some point" to it; one speaker was "too soft 
and winning"; another "too plaintive and 
high"; one "too even"; another "too stiff"; 
and with all, the effort to give more expression, 

107 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

but to be natural, was urged. In addition to the 
classroom work he settled the accounts of the 
students. At first the family boarded with Mrs. 
L. B. Potter, but it soon became necessary for 
Mrs. Dunn to take charge of the boarding hall, 
which then had twenty boarders. Though busy 
in this new work of running a school, the old 
work, ever dear to his heart, was not entirely 
omitted, for he not only preached but held some 
revival meetings. Mr. Ball, working hard in the 
new church at Buffalo, called himself **the im- 
portunate widow " as he urged the oft-repeated 
request for the assistance of Elder Dunn in this 
direction. Others had been in the city, but they 
could not bring people to decision; they *' lacked 
the melting spirit.'' 

Rev. I. D. Stewart visited the school in June 
while on a trip West for health, and thus wrote 
of it: "Everything is on a small scale com- 
pared with the patronage the institution receives. 
Recitation rooms are small, laboratory in a little 
room, cabinet and apparatus in any corner, but 
the institution stands well at home and abroad. 
I had my fears lest the college would prove a 
failure, but having been here, I can now frankly 

108 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE. 

say, to use a Western phrase, 'the thing will 
go.' The well-known energy and popularity of 
Brothers Fairfield and Dunn peculiarly fit them 
for securing the confidence and sympathy of the 
people." That the school did good work while 
at Spring Arbor, and that the teachers were ap- 
preciated can not be questioned. One of the 
students, Mrs. E. A. Clark, nee Sandford, wrote 
to Professor Dunn from Pennsylvania in 1898: 
** You were an inspiration to my youth while at 
the college at Spring Arbor, and an encourage- 
ment and help to me in my labors at Hillsdale, 
for which you will ever continue to live in my 
grateful remembrance." Prof. B. W. Aldrich of 
Moore's Hill College, Indiana, writes that when 
his father lived at Concord, near Spring Arbor, 
crowds used to flock from miles around to hear 
the eloquent Professor Dunn preach. His mother 
was one of the first graduates at Hillsdale, in 
1856, but had studied at Spring Arbor, and his 
''earliest recollections include the name of Pro- 
fessor Dunn as she and Mrs. Mahoney talked 
over those early days." The other member of 
this first class was Mrs. Eliza Scott Potter, who 
said to Professor Dunn, "The sun never sets 

109 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

upon those whose, minds and characters you have 
aided to mold and ennoble." Among the students 
at Spring Arbor were Professor Lewis McClouth, 
professor of natural science for many years in 
Ypsilanti Normal School and a leading educator in 
the State ; Professor Day, superintendent of 
schools of Cleveland for so long ; the Rev. Dr. 
William H. Perrine and his wife. Dr. Perrine's 
wife, Livonia E. Benedict, was the first woman 
to receive a classical degree in Michigan. 

Professor Dunn was convinced soon after his 
arrival at Spring Arbor that such an enterprise 
could not succeed in that location, and during the 
year held many earnest conversations with the 
other teachers in regard to it. He felt that in 
that small town, away from railroads, without 
people of means to support thejnstitution, it was 
useless to attempt to build up such a college as 
was desired. Already the school had outgrown 
its accommodations and the demand for a third 
building was pressing, but when the needs were 
placed before the community by Professor Dunn 
and Professor Fairfield, it failed to respond. At 
the meeting of the Board of Trustees, Jan. 
5, 1853, a committee 'was appointed to confer 
no 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE. 

with citizens of Jackson, Coldwater, Adrian, and 
other places. Delayed by a snow-storm on their 
way to Coldwater, Professor Dunn suggested 
looking at Hillsdale. Alone through snow and 
wind he drove to the future home of the college, 
and being directed to Dr. Cressy as a man inter- 
ested in educational matters, called upon him, 
and he arranged for a conference with a few 
leading citizens who might be interested. When 
he came to the office as arranged in the evening, 
he found twenty men gathered, judges, bankers, 
professional and business men. One of these 
gentlemen, Hon. C. C. Mitchell, thus referred to 
this occason : "I recollect well the first meeting 
in the office of the late Judge Wilson, when the 
leading business men were present and you so 
satisfactorily presented the subject as to satisfy 
us all with the feasibility of the project and we 
raised the required amount, though the town was 
poor at the time. I have always regarded you as 
the principal founder of Hillsdale College and its 
most steadfast friend, and as having raised more 
money than any one else for its endowment. 
And while I was a trustee your influence was 
always for the safe management of its finances." 
Ill 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

The proposition that the locality put up the 
buildings and the denomination raise the endow- 
ment was favorably considered. A committee, 
consisting of Dr. Underwood, Messrs. Pratt and 
Dickinson, was appointed to show Professor Dunn 
sites that would be suitable. The last location 
was reached by crossing a swamp, and was an 
open pasture fenced off from the road by a rail 
fence. But as he walked over this hill, where a 
few years ago the deer had roamed through the 
forest, he saw in imagination a group of college 
buildings overlooking the pleasant town, and 
stepped on a large stump and said, " If ever we 
have a Free Baptist college in the West it will be 
within twenty rods of this spot." When the 
committee reported to the trustees, Jan. 19, 1853, 
Coldwater was recommended, but Professor Dunn 
felt sure that Hillsdale would raise more funds, 
and felt that it was the more desirable place. 
The citizens of Spring Arbor had now aroused to 
see what they were about to lose. But even 
L. B. Potter, who had been perhaps the one 
chiefly instrumental in securing the school for 
Spring Arbor, and who, with Daniel Dunakin 
and others, had worked hard on the buildings, 
112 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE 

now favored removal. In less than a month it 
was decided that Hillsdale was to be the future 
seat of the college. In recent years Judge Pratt, 
in whose office some of the meetings were held 
at the time of the removal, wrote to Professor 
Dunn : ''This town and community are greatly 
indebted to you for your great labor in establish- 
ing and building Hillsdale College. You now 
enjoy the pleasure of seeing the college estab- 
lished on a firm foundation, and a great blessing 
to the rising generation. My esteem for you has. 
greatly increased with the passing years." Fif- 
teen thousand dollars was pledged in Hillsdale 
if fifteen thousand more would be put with it. 
Finally it was made twenty thousand dollars in 
Hillsdale county and seventeen thousand dollars 
elsewhere. Twenty-five acres of land were 
given for a campus. Hillsdale was then a vil- 
lage of about two thousand people. 

While the buildings were being erected it was 
proposed to raise the endowment, if possible. 
One man was to canvass New England and New 
York, another to take Ohio, Indiana, and Michi- 
gan. Professor Dunn was asked to bring ten 
thousand dollars from Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, 

113 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 




Professor Ransom Dunn. 1855. 



and Minnesota. This 
country was new, al- 
most without railroads 
and quite destitute of 
bridges and highways. 
The members of the 
churches were few, 
scattered, and poor, 
and not one of them 
within two hundred 
miles of Hillsdale. In 
referring to this ap- 
pointment he said: " My early purpose not to re- 
fuse any work for the Master properly assigned 
me by the denomination was the only reason why 
I was in the college at all, and was reason enough 
for attempting the severe and discouraging work 
now demanded. It had seemed to me worse than 
death to commence preaching, but to undertake 
this agency seemed still worse. But after weep- 
ing the first ten miles the work was prosecuted 
with what energy I could command." President 
Mosher says, ''That was real heroism." During 
the summer another little girl, Abbie, had come to 
their home, and in the fall of 1853 the family 

lU 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE 

again pitched their tent on the Western plains. 
Wayland and Cedelia, with their cousin Marilla, 
drove to Elgin with horse and buggy, where the 
rest of the family, who had gone by rail, were 
waiting to complete the journey by stage. He 
felt a long campaign was before him to secure from 
the scattered Free Baptists west of Lake Michigan 
the desired amount, and the home must be where 
he could be with the dear ones as often as possible. 
His wife said she would take care of the home 
and family for two years for him to raise ten 
thousand dollars, which would certainly be his 
share. He remained the two years, but raised 
over twenty thousand dollars. ** This was with- 
out doubt, **one writer says, '*a larger sum in 
proportion to membership of churches than was 
ever raised in the Free Baptist denomination for 
similar purposes in the same length of time, and 
we doubt if it can be paralleled in any other." 
It may be in place here to mention that this was 
far from completing his work for the endowment 
of Hillsdale College. For in later years, as we 
shall see from letters and college records, he 
secured seventy-four thousand dollars in special 
endowments, five thousand nine hundred dol- 
us 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

lars in notes, and one thousand nine hundred 
dollars in cash, making in all over one hundred 
and four thousand dollars that he added to 
the endowment fund of the college. And it 
was largely through his influence and assist- 
ance that other agents were put into the field, 
who also did noble work, such as Rev. D. L. 
Rice, Prof. S. J. Fowler, Rev. G. H. Ball, 
and others whose letters through a long period 
of years show their continued personal regard 
for him and dependence on his advice. This 
Western agency of Mr. Dunn at this early day 
was remarkable, for when we remember the con- 
dition of the country at that time we can imagine 
what wearisome labor this sum of twenty-two 
thousand dollars represented, and what faith it 
took to accomplish the result. The largest single 
gift was two hundred dollars, most of the pledges 
were one hundred dollars, fifty dollars, and 
twenty-five dollars. Thus we can see what the 
personal effort meant to this devoted man. His 
self-sacrifice inspired others, and from log houses, 
from "lean-to shanties," from houses destitute 
of luxuries and sometimes what we would call 
necessities, came the first endowment of Hills- 

116 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE 

dale College. Rev. D. M. Graham once said, 
"To write an epic poem is nothing, but to live 
one every day, that is serious business." But 
this was what this college agent in the West was 
doing in these years, living a noble, heroic life 
against great odds, putting self and ease aside 
for the sake of others and the future of Christ's 
cause. Though he did not realize it himself he 
was, as Dr. Ball says, doing ''the greatest work 
of his life in establishing and endowing Hillsdale 
College." 

We must not forget the sacrifice of the wife at 
home during these months of travel of the hus- 
band. When the family removed to Wisconsin 
in the fall of 1853 they went to Fayette, where 
they could have the privileges of school and 
church during the winter, and lived in the house 
of Mr. B. F. Buckmaster, who still lives in the 
same house. He remembers "Elder Dunn as a 
tall man with fair hair and blue eyes," who in 
all his home life as well as public work was "a 
model man." In the spring the house on the 
farm at Wayne was completed and the family 
moved there. It was built in octagon shape, and 
attracted considerable attention, and is still stand- 

117 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

ing. This was the year when cholera was preva- 
lent in the United States and caused great 
anxiety everywhere. Mrs. Dunn shared this 
anxiety, added to the usual anxiety for a hus- 
band with frail body and constantly overworked. 
She had the care of the farm, as the boys were 
only ten and twelve years of age, and had the 
little girls to care for, two of whom were mere 
babies. Add to this the loneliness incident to a 
new country and farm life, after living in the city 
of Boston, and having the association of young 
people at the college in Spring Arbor, and we 
• may fancy it was not an easy life she was lead- 
ing. But we fmd no word of complaint or regret, 
but always the utmost confidence in her hus- 
band's ability to bring to successful end the 
arduous undertaking in which he was engaged, 
and the most cheerful acquiescence in all plans, 
with a trust in God for present care and future 
•guidance. This little extract from one letter may 
serve as a sample of many, showing the spirit 
exemplified: ** Little Cyrena calls *Pa' a great 
many times a day. It seems a little hard to have 
her father gone so long when she loves him so 
well. We hope to see you soon again. 1 am 

118 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE 

praying that God's blessing may attend you and 
that life may be spared and you be permitted to 
return in better health than when you left. Re- 
member me in your prayers, and be assured that 
you are not forgotten by one who loves you more 
than life itself." Friends feared he was over- 
working, as many letters of kindly interest show. 
Rev. S. F. Smith writes: ''Your life, council, 
influence, and labor are greatly needed. I don't 
see how they can be dispensed with. It is a 
matter of interest to the denomination that your 
life be preserved and your health maintained. 
The labor required of you at the college in Michi- 
gan, and on the field for it, is too much. Go out 
on one of God's promises, and lie down. Go on 
your farm and take it easy. You did not try it 
long enough before. You need rest." But it 
was not possible for him to rest until this en- 
dowment was assured. 

And not only did he secure funds but students 
for the college. The endowment was being 
raised on the scholarship plan, each one contrib- 
uting one hundred dollars having a scholarship 
entitling him to free tuition for one student. 
Thus many were induced to help the college, not 

119 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

only for its own sake and because of denomina- 
tional interest, but also for the privilege of giving 
their children an education. And even where 
scholarships were not taken the interest he 
aroused in the institution led to the sending of 
students. Letters from those who met him at 
this time give an idea of the impression made. 
Hon. O. A. Janes, United States Pension Agent 
for Michigan, wrote thus: *'I well remember 
you, when I was a boy, at Johnston, Wis., plead- 
ing for Hillsdale College and preaching in the old 
stone schoolhouse. I then made up my mind 
that I should attend college at Hillsdale. In later 
years I did, and remember you as one of the 
most earnest, active teachers. As a member of 
the Board of Trustees and Treasurer I knew of 
your zeal in raising money for the college, and 
to you more than to any one else is due its 
success." Helen M. Cougar, the temperance 
lecturer, says: **As long ago as I can remember 
anything I can remember *Prof. Dunn.' Your 
visits in the interests of the college, to my 
Crandfather Dresser's, my entrance later into 
the college, your officiating services at my wed- 
ding, have made you a factor in my life. As 

120 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE 

memory sweeps back over all these years the 
impress of your life is as a stalwart character for 
the higher humanities and Christlikeness." 

As he traveled from place to place his voice 
was heard not only on college needs but on other 
topics of the day. This was the time when 
antislavery was being discussed everywhere. 
Judge Hoke of the American Consulate of Nova 
Scotia has a vivid recollection of Professor Dunn's 
work in this direction. He wrote to him not long 
ago: **Do you remember that night in 1853 
when you spoke at a schoolhouse near my 
father's residence in Illinois? I shall never forget 
that address. Your burning eloquence and strong 
language are still vivid in my memory. No pho- 
tograph could retain more distinctly the scene 
than my mind now holds it. The benches, the 
tallow candles, the desk you stood behind, the 
green glasses you wore, the gestures you made, 
the packed audience that leaned forward to catch 
every word that fell from your lips, are clearer 
than any other scene of my early life. The 
whole nation was then proslavery. It was very 
unpopular for you to make that speech at that 
time in Illinois. Indeed, I think the whole anti- 
121 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

slavery party was mostly composed of Freewill 
Baptists, Quakers, and Oberlin College. I was 
attending school where the faculty, all Methodist 
preachers, denounced the agitation of the slavery 
question. My father, who had heard you before, 
drove seven miles to the seminary and back that 
night, that I, a youth of seventeen, should 
hear that speech. Yours was the grand pioneer 
declaration toward which the nation soon began 
to drift. But this was before the days of the 
Republican party, which you prophesied would 
be formed, before the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise or the passage of the Kansas and 
Nebraska Bill. It is not strange that when I 
learned of Hillsdale College and that you were 
to be one of the faculty I determined to go 
to this Christian and antislavery college. Dur- 
ing the next year I heard President Finney 
of Oberlin, and many distinguished reformers 
and scholars, as Horace Mann, Charles Sumner, 
and Elihu Burritt, but nothing that these men 
said was clearer, stronger, or better expressed 
than that speech at Oak Ridge schoolhouse." 
Thus was he helping to prepare the field for 
Abraham Lincoln and his work. 

122 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL COLLEGE 

His labors at this time also included those of 
a home missionary in organizing churches. In 
three places where there were no Free Baptist 
churches before, Evansville and Waupun in Wis- 
consin, and Warren, 111., flourishing churches 
were formed. At Racine he assisted Rev. S. F. 
Smith for about two months, and at the close of 
his service wrote : **We have here a comfort- 
able, well-finished and furnished church. We 
commenced with few hearers, but the house soon 
became crowded and scores said ' Pray for me.' 
Our church was started with seventy members. 
There is an excellent feeling in the community 
toward religion and Free Baptists." At Warren, 
he met in the ballroom of the old stone hotel 
those who were interested in the establishment 
of a church and suggested plans for building, 
which were carried out. He and his wife united 
with this church, planning to make a home here 
in town for the family. During eighteen months 
he dedicated five churches, the last one being at 
Mendon, 111., in 18155. 

At the General Conference at Fairport, N. Y., 
in 1853, his voice was heard on antislavery 
and home missions and for the Boston church, 

123 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

and he showed his sincerity as usual by gifts 
toward these causes. But when it came to 
education he had a story to tell of the new col- 
lege in the West that stirred the Conference to 
unanimously pass a resolution heartily favoring 
the enterprise. At the anniversaries at Saco, 
Me., in 1854, a resolution was passed that the 
**Free Baptist Education Society raise within 
eighteen months twenty thousand dollars for the 
Biblical School, twenty-five thousand dollars for 
Hillsdale College, and ten thousand dollars for 
New Hampton Institute." Professor Whipple 
reported that the faculty were ** either in the field 
soliciting or at the college superintending build- 
ing operations. Professor Dunn was meeting with 
flattering success in the West, Brother Ball and 
other agents well received in the East ; the ablest 
men should go on the field until these institutions 
are put on a permanent foundation." 



124 



VII 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE — BOSTON — ILLINOIS 
— THE CIVIL WAR AND WHAT IT COST 

While these agents were thus in the field and 
at denominational gatherings, building was going 
on at Hillsdale. The offer of Hon. E. Blackmar 
of twenty-five acres for a campus had been 
gratefully accepted; and a building committee 
appointed, consisting of E. B. Fairfield, R. Dunn, 
H. E. Whipple, G. W. Underwood, D. Beebe, 
and L. Russell. Henry King of Oberlin was ap- 
pointed bookkeeper for the college. Bricks and 
lumber were ready, ground was broken, ''and on 
the 4th of July, 1853, in the presence of a great 
throng, the largest gathering of people, without 
doubt, that had ever been convened in Hillsdale,, 
the corner-stone of Hillsdale College was laid. 
Henry Waldron presided ; Colonel Holloway and 
Dr. Beebe were the marshals. President Fair- 
field made a brief address. The prayer of con- 
secration was offered by Professor Dunn, who 

125 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

had unusual liberty of spirit on this most mo- 
mentous occasion. As the widening history of 
this infant institution opened out before his mind 
he seemed to be lifted on a Pisgah's top and a 
land of promise unrolled before him." Those 
who heard it have never forgotten this prayer, 
but after the lapse of nearly fifty years its im- 
pression is still felt. One who was there thinks 
**the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the 
Temple must have been its exact parallel in 
solemn earnestness and far-reaching, prophetic 
thought. It was a landmark in my life as it was 
in many others." On one of the stumps near 
the platform had climbed a little boy who had 
driven all the way from Hudson with his parents 
to see the corner-stone of the new college laid, 
and Zaccheus-like took a position to see all that 
was possible. When he saw that tall, pale man 
with the high forehead stand and talk to God as 
he had never heard man talk before, his soul was 
stirred, and then and there was born the desire 
for education, the longing to influence men, and 
Will Carleton went home to begin the thinking 
that made possible in later years the poems that 
have touched so many hearts. 

126 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

In August the cellars were dug and founda- 
tions put in, two hundred and sixty-two feet 
from east to west, sixty feet from north to south. 
Seven citizens of Hillsdale had pledged one thou- 
sand dollars each ; a subscription paper drawn 
up by Judge Pratt to the order of Henry Wald- 
ron, Allen Hammond, and C. W. Ferris had been 
circulated. Some legal difficulties delayed the 
work during the year 1854. Some of the citizens 
of Spring Arbor had placed an injunction on the 
trustees to prevent removal of the college, but 
this matter was settled in favor of the Hillsdale 
party. There was also some doubt in regard to 
the charter. A new college law was agitated, 
Dr. Cressy in the Senate and Daniel Dunakin in 
the House favored it, other schools in the State 
joined the movement. The bill was passed in 
February, 1855, and thus all the State colleges 
at that time and since, secured the privilege of 
conferring degrees through the efforts of Hills- 
dale. **The history of that law," as one State 
historian says, 'Ms a chapter in the history of 
Hillsdale College," for which she should receive 
due credit, as it was done by her and for her, but 
all others have reaped the benefits. Under this 

127 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

law thirty-five trustees were elected in March and 
their first annual meeting held in July, 1855. 
Ransom Dunn was one of these trustees, and from 
1856 till his death in 1900 was always present at 
their annual meetings, attending thirty-eight out 
of the forty-three meetings. The occasions when 
he was absent were when away for health in the 
West or Europe, and when in later years a new 
law forbade members of the faculty serving on 
the board of management. When the first fac- 
ulty of the college were elected E. B. Fairfield 
received eighteen votes, H. E. Whipple seven- 
teen votes. Ransom Dunn and C. H. Churchill 
twenty-one votes, and all were declared unani- 
mously elected. Miss Delia R. Whipple was 
elected lady principal. The salaries were four 
hundred dollars to seven hundred dollars. Pro- 
fessor Dunn offered the following resolution : 
''That the principal of all funds raised toward 
the endowment of the college by donations or 
sale of scholarships outside of Hillsdale county 
shall be held forever sacred, the interest only to 
be expended." Thus was the principle estab- 
lished on which the college has been saved from 
shipwreck such as other institutions have suf- 

128 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

fered that succumbed to the temptation to use 
endowment funds for current expenses when 
occasion seemed to demand, and living within the 
income became the policy of the trustees. That 
the income has been too small has been a sad 
fact, but that the effort has been made to act on 
this wise provision is a great credit to the suc- 
cessors as well as to the originator of it. But 
the friends of the institution and of education 
should see that the endowment fund is made suf- 
ficiently large so that this principle can be carried! 
out and yet the faculty not be obliged to live on 
inadequate salaries or the college departments 
suffer for want of proper appliances. Gener- 
osity and liberality of donors must go with 
economy of management. It is a source of grati- 
fication, however, to know that self-sacrificing 
teachers have worked with conscientious trustees 
for the best interests of the college. 

The college opened in November, 1855, the 
dedicatory address being given by Rev. G. H. 
Ball. Mr. Ball wrote: *Mt was an occasion 
full of interest to every friend of Christianity. 
The imposing building, with its massive dome, 
gave inspiration to the numerous friends as- 

129 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

sembled. The college is now a fixed fact, with 
an edifice not surpassed in beauty and conveni- 
ence by any college building in our knowledge, 
with a basis of endowment and a board of 
teachers that do credit to the cause." 

Some features of this new college deserve 
special mention. It was said that however cor- 
dially Professor Dunn's first speeches were re- 
ceived by citizens of Hillsdale, there was one 
sentiment but feebly applauded, and that was 
the doctrine of equal rights of all men without 
regard to color. There was no love for the agita- 
tion of the abolition question in that section at 
that time, but Hillsdale county a few years 
later was the banner county in the Republican 
ranks of the State, and helped greatly in the 
free soil victory in 1855. An early student, 
who became a Union soldier, could well give 
this toast to Professor Dunn in later years : 
**To you who so efficiently helped to plant 
in the oak openings of Michigan an abolition 
college which has blest and helped thousands 
— that is glory enough for one man." It was 
not customary in those days to expect women 
to take a full college course, and it was not 

130 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

to be supposed they would attend the same 
school with men. But already at Spring Arbor, 
as we have seen, had the first woman to receive 
an A. B. degree been graduated, and now when 
the doors of Hillsdale College opened it was to 
welcome women on the same conditions and to 
the same privileges as men. 

But the man who had done more than any 
other toward this consummation was not per- 
mitted to be present on this opening day. A 
serious inflammation of the eyes drove him from 
his books and work, and for a year, suffering 
much, he was under the care of an oculist. In 
the summer of 1856 he wrote to the Star: 'Mt 
is impossible to answer the many calls for labor. 
Let one explanation do for all. Since November 
I have been unable to read or write or to labor 
much. For a time have been in Boston for 
treatment. It may be some time before I can 
engage in labor as in the past three years." A 
niece had taken care of the family in the Illinois 
home during the winter while Mr. and Mrs. 
Dunn with the two little ones were in Boston. 
He had written to his mother the previous year 
from Wayne: ''This is a beautiful country and 

131 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

settling rapidly. Wild land that three years ago 
was purchased at one dollar and twenty-five 
cents per acre is now worth ten dollars. Our 
place is but six miles from Warren, which now is 
on the railroad from Galena to Chicago, making 
connections for New York and Boston. I am still 
connected with that college. Have raised about 
twelve thousand dollars within eight months for 
the endowment. I am traveling from five to ten 
hundred miles a month." He had helped in a 
series of meetings in Warren, and dedicated their 
new house of worship, "one of the best on that 
side of the lakes" at that time. A course of 
lectures on anatomy and physiology that he had 
given provided the money for the bell. The 
basement was used as a school. One of his 
Ohio converts, Horace Woodworth, was the pas- 
tor in 1855, and his brother Nathan the fol- 
lowing year. Here in this growing village he 
thought to have a comfortable home until he 
should go to the college waiting for him, or, if 
released from that work, into missionary work 
in the West. 

But a shadow fell upon the family in October^ 
1855, when the little four-year-old daughter^ 

132 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 




Little Cyrena and her mother. 



Cyrena, was taken with typhoid fever, and after 
two weeks of suffering was taken away. Her 
bright and winsome ways had made his home- 
comings joyous, and her spiritual insight had 
been a constant source of wonderment to all who 
met her. Mr. Rice, after his last visit, had writ- 

133 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

ten: 'M fear you will not keep that little girl 
long. May we all learn from her how to possess 
a meek and quiet spirit. She would add new 
attractions to heaven." The father wrote to his 
mother: **A sweeter spirit never rejoiced a 
parent's heart. She was the idol of the family. 
But she has gone to a better clime. It is all right. 
God knows best." 

He attended the Western Evangelical Associa- 
tion at Racine in September, and the anniver- 
saries in Hillsdale, Nov. 6. The presence of 
Rev. J. L. Phillips, with a native convert from 
India, **Sulu," made this an interesting session. 
But the fact that for the first time a denomina- 
tional gathering was convened in their own col- 
lege at Hillsdale was a fact of special interest. 
A delegate thus describes the room in which the 
meetings were held : '' The chapel is the upper- 
most room in the building, sixty feet square and 
twenty-two feet high, with a deep gallery on 
three sides." In this large, light chapel, with its 
long windows and massive columns. Professor 
Dunn made the impressive opening prayer. 

But he went away from those inspiring meet- 
ings to spend a gloomy winter. As he expressed 

134 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

it: ** Before spring the heavens were veiled, the 
earth clouded, friends shaded, and books practi- 
cally annihilated. Under the care of a cele- 
brated oculist in Boston, within eighteen months 
sight was restored so that I was able to resume 
work at the college. In the meantime my serv- 
ices were called for in Bennett Sreet church, and, 
securing others to do the reading, pulpit labors 
were kept up and prosperity enjoyed. A floating 
debt of one thousand six hundred dollars was 
raised and as much expended on church repairs, 
and a precious revival took place." Mrs. Dunn, 
too, suffered with sore eyes, and for some time 
both were under constant treatment. In June he 
went West to attend to business matters and to 
see the family, and during his absence the church 
at Boston voted unanimously to call him as their 
pastor. A house was secured in Chelsea, and 
the scattered family were together again. 

He had not forgotten the work in the West nor 
the college, for at the General Conference in 
Mainville, O., in 1856, he urged the appoint- 
ment of denominational agents for the Western 
States, and when President Fairfield arrived Pro- 
fessor Dunn called him out for a talk on Hillsdale 

135 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

College. Mr. Fairfield in turn called on Professor 
Dunn, and he spoke on the possibilities of a 
■Christian college in the West. Brethren Ball, 
Rice, Davis, and others followed, while President 
Fairfield showed pictures of the new buildings 
and took subscriptions. The editor of the Morn- 
ing Star S2i\di: *M went one hundred and fifty 
miles out of my way to see the college, and 
knew it by the picture that had cast such a spell 
over Conference and opened so many purse 
strings. What a load these early workers have 
carried ! But success crowns their efforts." 

The work in Boston continued to be blessed 
with increasing religious interest, and the pastor 
said: "If ever I felt like consecrating every- 
thing to God and his work, I have this winter. 
O for revivals ! " But in the fall of 1857 came 
urgent calls to return to Hillsdale, not only for 
the sake of the college but as pastor of the 
church, where it was felt his services were much 
ineeded. Then ''came the evenly balanced 
struggle as to which field of labor should claim 
his powers. Financially and by possession Bos- 
ton had him. Ten men took him into a counting- 
room and solemnly promised him one hundred 

136 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

dollars in gold every month, besides his clerical 
perquisites, if he would continue to hold the place 
he had made important. On the other hand he 
had put heart, hand, and prayers into the rising 
denominational college, his name had been kept 
on the faculty page." He felt his obligation to 
the college was still binding, and so to Hillsdale 
he went in the spring of 1858. Of the friends 
in Boston he said in later life: **I have never 
parted with any people in unpleasantness nor 
enjoyed separations, but the prosperous and pro- 
spective condition of Bennett Street church, the 
strange and undeserved attachment of the people 
for me and my regard for them, rendered my de- 
parture from Boston at this time one of the most 
painful separations of my life." 

The regard was mutual and the friendships 
formed there were lasting. Whenever Professor 
Dunn was in New England he always called on 
Boston friends. At one time he called at the 
home of one of his old-time parishioners and the 
father had not yet returned from the office. 
When he came home the little girl met him at the 
door with, "O papa. Brother Dunn is here. 1 
kissed him, we all kissed him, we're so happy," 

137 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

a sentiment which the father seemed to share. 
As long as the old members remained in the 
city the announcement that he was to preach 
would bring even the aged ones from long dis- 
tances. Good old Deacon Pease said, **I 
hold it one of the great blessings of my life 
to have called Elder Dunn friend, brother, 
and pastor." The last time he went to New 
England was at the time of the General Con- 
ference at Ocean Park in 1898, and he preached 
during the dedication exercises of the new 
church on Warren Street. He still found a few 
old friends to greet him, and the children of 
others anxious to know him. The pastor, Rev. 
O. H. Tracy, said, " This people feel proud and 
honored to think that you have been our pastor.'* 
Some of these Boston friends followed him West 
and became founders of the Chicago church, 
supporters of the Western denominational papers, 
helpers in Hillsdale and elsewhere. 

The first year at the college had been a trying 
one, as only a part of the edifice was completed 
when the school opened. But faithful teachers 
and good-natured students had worked on, and 
the year 1858 found things in good running order. 

138 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

Mrs. V. G. Ramsey, the matron of the hall, had 
also acted as lady principal for the first year in 
the absence of Miss Whipple. She said that the 
occasional visits of Professor Dunn were " like a 
burst of sunshine on a dark day." On arrival 
at Hillsdale the Dunn family took rooms in the 
college boarding-hall. The boys were already 
here, having been placed in school while the 
family were in Boston. Cedelia Eliza was now 
nearly thirteen years of age, but mature and 
womanly. She had studied with a Hillsdale 
student, Mr. Lindsley, in Wisconsin, and had 
rapidly advanced during her year in the Boston 
schools, and now was ready to enter college, and 
welcomed as a bright pupil. But an unseen hand 
was beckoning her away. In the month of May, 
after three brief days of that dread disease, 
scarlet fever, she left the loved ones here, to be 
with those who had gone to the heavenly home. 
Her last words were the joyful exclamation, 
"I have found Him!" One of the students, 
Mrs. Euphemia Merrill Lance, writes of the im- 
pression that death-bed scene made on the hearts 
of all. She says: "My room was on the same 
floor and near hers, and I was with her when the 

139 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

end came and she bade adieu to all of us. First 
her father, mother, and sister ; then she called 
for her brothers and urged them to meet her in 
heaven ; and soon her spirit departed. While 
she was lying on the bed in death her father 
said, ' Let us try to pray.' Oh, what a prayer ! 
There in that little room when our hearts were 
full of grief he seemed to have communion so 
close with God that those boys and none of us 
student friends could doubt the reality of those 
words, 'Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort 
me.'" 

This first death in the college building made a 
deep impression on the students. The beautiful 
resolutions of the literary society to which she 
belonged were expressive of the feelings of the 
whole school. Dpring the first winter after the 
college opened there were twenty conversions 
and twelve baptisms, and twenty-four were 
added to the college church. Now this spiritual 
influence was deepened by this providential call 
and by the character of the man, now pastor of 
the church, who showed in trial as well as in 
labor his trust in the God he preached. The 
student already quoted refers to his personal in- 

140 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

fluence over the students : " How good he used 
to talk to us young people, timid and homesick 
as we were. He had always a kind word, and 
such deep spiritual power that no one could 
doubt his sincerity." Mrs. Ramsey felt that dur- 
ing the first two years of the school, even when 
absent much of the time, *'the strength of his 
character, his patience and wisdom, did much to 
keep the weak and tottering enterprise from 
falling, and to make it what it became in later 
years, a blessing to the world and an honor to 
the denomination." Still more was his influence 
felt now when in active work in the school and 
church. He bought the house at the corner of 
Hillsdale and Fayette streets, and here many of 
the faculty meetings were held. 

It became known that he had left a city pas- 
torate, with one thousand two hundred dollars 
salary and many emoluments, to come to the col- 
lege and church for half the sum. A citizens' 
surprise party gave him a purse of one hundred 
and fifty dollars, which was presented by Hon. 
Daniel Pratt. An old-time school-girl journal 
tells an interesting incident that followed : 

141 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

" HILLSDALE, Sabbath, Sept. 26, 1858. 
" What a blessed man Professor Dunn is ! How pleas- 
antly and gratefully he referred, before morning service, 
to the surprise party we students gave him Friday even- 
ing. The donation party by church and town people sug- 
gested the idea to us, and when students once get an idea 
it does not take long to put it into execution. Of course 
we all went into the business, heart and hand, and soon 
the salute was, ' Have you subscribed? ' Well, the even- 
ing came, and East Hall was the place of rendezvous. 
The captain told us, on penalty of being court-martialed, 
not to speak one word during the march to Professor 
Dunn's house. The Hillsdale brass band were to lead. 
Like ghosts we noiselessly file right and left ; the brass 
band with brazen instruments brazenly advance to the 
front. Ready ! The air is filled with martial music. We 
stand like living statues, with bated breath. The cur- 
tains are drawn aside, then a surprised professor stands in 
the doorway. Our spokesman, J. T. Hoke, presents a 
purse containing one hundred and fifty-five dollars in cash. 
The professor thanked us as only he can, and then ex- 
tended a hearty invitation to come in, and soon standing- 
room only was to be had. But a more delightful sociable 
never was, and what time we lost on the march was made 
up a hundredfold." 

The preaching of Professor Dunn in the chapel 
at this time was one of the great influences of 
the college. One who attended the school in 

142 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

1859, and became a minister afterward, says: 
*'I remember with gratitude a series of profound 
and eloquent sermons on natural theology. 
They thrilled me through and through. They 
were matchless efforts, and I have carried the 
impression they made upon me through life. 
Doubtless much of Professor Dunn's long and 
useful life as a teacher and preacher is still being 
reproduced in the lives of students who, like 
myself, took him as their ideal." The preaching 
of Professor Dunn in the chapel had a wider in- 
fluence than that upon the students or members 
of the church. It was a light set on a hill that 
drew to it citizens and strangers of varying 
creeds and beliefs, for the fame of the speaker 
traveled. At one time a young man who was 
attending an Eastern college was spending a 
vacation with friends in the town of Hillsdale. 
Sunday afternoon came, and his friend said, 
"You must go up on College Hill and hear Pro- 
fessor Dunn." They went, and his journal tells 
the rest: **How can I write of that sermon! 
The text was, * The living, the living, they shall 
praise thee.' (Isa. 38: 19.) I cannot attempt 
to give any analysis of it. He presented the 

143 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

realities of life in an awe-inspiring manner, and 
many of the great throng must have gone from 
the house with more exalted ideas of the nobility 
of a true life, and with deeper convictions of the 
meanness of their own sinful lives. I know that 
the harshest things he said could be fitly applied 
to my own heart without going to find my neigh- 
bor. There were six persons baptized at the foot 
of the hill, and the exercises were very interest- 
ing and solemn." This young man lived to be 
a prominent Presbyterian clergyman in New 
York and Pennsylvania, Dr. C. E. Robinson, 
and he never saw Professor Dunn again until as 
an old man he came to live and die at the home 
of his daughter in the city of Scranton, where 
Dr. Robinson was a pastor. In giving this ex- 
tract from his diary, Dr. Robinson says, ''How 
little should I have imagined then that I should 
be called to speak at his funeral and pay in public 
my tribute to the impression made upon me 
that day." 

One of the features of Hillsdale College from 
the first was its literary societies. The large 
Eastern colleges had secret fraternities, and clubs 
and societies of various kinds, but the open lit- 

144 



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Hillsdale College.— A Literary Society Hall. 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

erary society with the support of the faculty and 
encouragement of the public was a characteristic 
of this school that has always had great influence 
in making its students clear thinkers, ready 
speakers, and practical men in every walk of 
life. All over the country where one meets a 
Hillsdale student it is usually found that he is the 
one called on as a presiding officer, for speaking 
on public occasions and serving on important 
committees. The college made provision for 
these societies by giving them halls of their own. 
Professor Dunn was an active supporter of their 
establishment and helper in their success. One 
of the early students, Hon. J. C. Patterson,, 
wrote in later years, '* I well remember the deep 
impression made upon my youthful mind before 
I became your pupil by your stirring address on 
* True Manhood ' at the dedication of one of the 
society halls in 1858. The noble sentiments so 
beautifully expressed found lodgment in my heart 
and gave me a broader view and a higher ideal 
of life. I shall always cherish the memory of 
this and your later words of wisdom and encour- 
agement as my teacher, and your counsels as my 
friend." At the commencement of 1859, Rev. 

145 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

G, T. Day, who had been a friend to the college 
through all its early days, delivered the address 
to the literary societies. Among the parts taken 
by the students were two orations, "Let there 
be Light," in the Alpha Kappa Phi Society, by 
N. R. Dunn; and ''Life Measured by Deeds," 
in the Amphictyon, by F. W. Dunn. 

The double work began to tell upon the active 
teacher and pastor, and Boston friends, hearing 
that rest was suggested, urged that change was 
rest, and that if he would return to his old place 
they would ask for only one sermon a Sabbath 
and release him from as much other work as pos- 
sible, and they offered to fit up a house for him. 
One of them wrote, ''The feeling is Dunn — 
nothing but Dunn." He finally consented, and 
they were glad to announce in the Star in 
October, 1859, that Ransom Dunn was back in 
Boston. "He brings to this field," the report 
read, "acknowledged superior mental powers 
and extraordinary talents, but also a heart full of 
the love of Jesus, going out after perishing souls, 
as shown in every sermon he preaches and in 
his daily walk and conversation. We are thank- 
ful to God for giving us one whose faithful labors 
and wise counsel we had in bygone days." 

146 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

He labored earnestly for the church during that 
year ; and was frequently called upon for assist- 
ance in the exciting campaign then in progress, 
being a popular speaker in the Tremont Temple 
meetings. But he felt that his coming to Boston 
that time ** was a mistake, for that field required 
a whole man and rest was what I needed." And 
so it proved, for at the commencement of the 
year 1861 he became so ill he could no longer 
continue his work as pastor. He took a trip 
South, acting as a newspaper correspondent, 
with letters of introduction from Congressmen in 
New England, who were his friends, to promi- 
nent men in Washington. Friends feared for 
his safety in the capital and the Southern States, 
but he returned safely. The respite from preach- 
ing and the change of air had not, however, 
made sufficient improvement in his health that he 
felt justified in remaining in Boston. 

He had been given the honorary degree of 
A. M. from the Wesleyan University, at Middle- 
town, Conn., in i860. For some time, as a mat- 
ter of interest to himself, and of assistance in 
the debates and addresses on national questions 
which he was called upon to give, he had been 

147 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

studying law. While in Boston he read with a 
lawyer there who entered him as a law student, 
and now offered to continue his assistance by 
correspondence or recommendation, and urged 
Mr. Dunn's entering upon the practice of law in 
the West as a means of livelihood and a use of 
his talents, and probably less nervous strain than 
the ministry. It is interesting to speculate upon 
the result had he acted upon this advice. There 
is no doubt but that he would have made a suc- 
cess in this profession. His eloquence would 
have given him eminence at the bar and his 
social qualities won him friends, and financial 
success would have followed. 

Mr. Dunn went to Illinois to seek for rest and 
a home and some little work for the Master that 
he might be able to do. The Boston church 
called Rev. Austin W. Avery, a young man of 
brilliant powers and sweet spirit, who had been 
studying with Pastor Dunn for three months and 
was much loved by him and the people. Mrs. 
Dunn went to Hillsdale with their three little 
girls, Abbie, Helen, who was born in Boston in 
1857, and Lily, who had come to their home in 
Hillsdale in 1859. Wayland concluded to leave 

148 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

school and take them to Illinois, and remain at 
home to assist his father, who had received an 
offer to preach once in four weeks in a small 
place, for which he was promised two hundred 
dollars a year and given the use of forty acres 
of land. In March, 1861, they went to live at 
Prairie Centre, in LaSalle County, twelve miles 
from Ottawa. While stopping with friends here 
waiting for their home to be ready, the sweet 
little Lily faded and died ; or, rather, should we 
not say, the Master came and took the blossom 
for his own fair garden above ? Wayland said, 
** Another sister gone! It was hard to give up 
the little pet." They laid her beside the little 
Cyrena in Warren, and went back to their home- 
making with lonely hearts, missing the prattle of 
the wee little one. 

It was decided to build a stable at once and 
live in that until the house could be built. As 
soon as their household goods arrived it was 
made as homelike as possible for their temporary 
dwelling-place, and plowing, planting, and build- 
ing occupied the time. Always fond of horses, 
Mr. Dunn seemed to have special adaptation for 
breaking colts, and gained a reputation in this 

149 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

particular so that he not only trained those for 
his own use but for his neighbors. His kindness 
and patience, combined with firmness, made him 
a. success in dealing with animals as well as with 
people. But however busy in planning farm 
work and overseeing building operations, or tired 
with attempting to help in the work, his voice 
was not silent whenever opportunity offered to 
give the Gospel message. At the schoolhouse 
in their district, at Ophir Centre or at Homer, he 
was preaching much of the time, and the people 
of that county heard such preaching as they had 
never heard before. They would drive miles to 
hear him, and when the house was full would 
drive their carriages close to the windows and sit 
there, and men would stand in the door and on 
the steps during the whole service. He dedi- 
cated a new church at Four Mile Grove. The 
son who had just come from college, and had 
heard some good lecturers and some of the lead- 
ing speakers in the field in the war campaign, 
wrote in his journal, after attending some of 
these services: **He is certainly one among a 
thousand, the best speaker I ever heard, unless 
perhaps Gough ; and as good a man as ever 

150 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

lived." He was appointed General Western 
Agent of the Home Mission Board, to work in 
Illinois and Wisconsin. 

Ransom wrote from Hillsdale that the students 
were giving themselves by the score to the gov- 
ernment in the hour of the nation's peril, and he 
wanted to enlist in a company then being formed. 
It was one thing to lecture against slavery and to 
preach for union, it was quite another to give 
your dearest treasures for it. But the father's 
heart, though torn with grief, could not refuse. 
He did say, however: "If this war lasts, as I 
fear it may, you will have plenty of time to 
fight; if it does not, you will not be needed. 
You are young ; wait until you graduate, and 
then if your country needs you, you may go." 
So in September, after summer vacation at home, 
the boys went back to college. The father went 
as far as Chicago with them, where, after attend- 
ing to matters of business, and hearing Lovejoy 
speak on the battle of Bull Run, they said good- 
bye sadly. One of them remarked : "How sad 
father looked when we left ! I would do any- 
thing for him. There never was a better man or 
father." 

151 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

The year passed quickly by, and June 19, 
1862, came Commencement Day at Hillsdale. 
Newell Ransom Dunn at twenty-one, and Francis 
Wayland Dunn, nineteen years of age, were 
among the graduates. Ransom went to visit 
relatives in Ohio, Wayland to the home in 
Illinois. He found the family settled in the small 
but convenient house recently built, and glad to 
see him. In July came the call for 300,000 men 
for the army, and the excitement was intense. 
Wayland wrote to a friend: '*I have gone into 
the war three times and I am not in yet. Ran- 
som came home from Quincy — he had been 
down the river looking for a place to teach school 
— just as I was going to the recruiting officer, 
and said, ' If you go, my name goes down with 
yours.' That won't do, for father's health will 
not allow of both leaving. Father came near 
going himself. They tried to get a company 
from this district and thought they could if he 
would be captain. He said he would if they got 
the requisite number, but they were not able to 
do it in the required time. It is better so ; his 
health is not good. I am trying to persuade him 
to stop preaching." 

152 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

But the day came when the two boys rode to 
Ottawa, past the little schoolhouse, waving good- 
bye to the sisters, away from the sad-eyed 
mother at home, who had herself made the silken 
flag that was presented to the company, to report 
for orders in the sixty-fourth regiment of the 
Illinois volunteers, the '* Yates Sharpshooters,'' 
and September ist began the march to the South. 
They were stationed at Corinth, Miss., one of 
the outposts of the army of General Rosecrans. 
The story of their life is that of hundreds of 
other brave young boys who left home and 
friends to save their country, to learn not only 
the horrors of battlefield and charge, but the 
meannesses of petty under-officers and the sel- 
fishness and degradation of human nature. But 
their unfailing courtesy won the good-will of 
those who at first jeered at the lads who pre- 
ferred the Bible, the *Mliad," ^Mvanhoe," or 
■' Les Miserables," to the card-table and the low 
jest, while their faithfulness to duty won the re- 
gard of oificers and gained them promotions. 
Letters from home and school friends cheered the 
lonely hours. They passed unhurt through 
several battles, and wrote cheery letters home. 

153 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

But in March, 1863, Ransom was taken sick 
with typhoid fever induced by poor water and 
aggravated by exposure while on guard serving 
extra hours for a sick friend. The brother 
helped him to the regimental hospital and went 
daily four miles for fresh milk and eggs and pure 
water for him. A telegram and letter were sent 
to the father and the trains watched anxiously to 
see if he would come. The week went by and 
the patient was no better, another week and he 
was failing. He wakened from a feverish sleep, 
reached for his Testament, and pointed to the 
fourteenth chapter of John, which his brother 
read to him ; asked for bread, and when it was 
given him broke it in small pieces as usually 
served at the communion table, and quoted, 
•* This do in remembrance of Me." That night 
he called for his brother, whom he could not bear 
to have away from him. After doing what he 
could for his comfort Wayland lay beside the 
sick boy where he could touch him with his hand 
as he loved to do. When the morning light stole 
in the brother saw a change in the sick one's 
countenance, and tried to give the medicine, but 
he could not take it. He spoke to him but he 

154 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

could answer only with his eyes. Then he said, 
*Ms it all right, Ransom? " Ransom turned his 
eyes toward heaven, and was gone, and Wayland 
was alone with his dead. The effort to get the 
pass to take the body home, the refusal, the 
attempt to get it on the cars, and finally sending 
by express, the return alone to camp to wait for 
the letter from - home, was an experience from 
which he never recovered. The expected letter 
came, telling that previous letters had not been 
received, and that the sudden news and severe 
loss was a terrible shock; and alone in the woods 
the homesick boy shed the first tear as he saw 
the father crushed by this blow to all his hopes 
and affections. 

The family were living at Warren, 111. Pro- 
fessor Whipple came from Hillsdale to attend the 
funeral, and friends were very kind. But the 
broken-hearted father paced the floor in an agony 
of grief, and the little girls could only show their 
sympathy for the sorrow they hardly understood 
by the clasp of the hand and the attempt to at 
least walk with him. The fact that for months 
Ransom had been living a life of trust in Christ, 
that his death, though evidently expected from 

155 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

the first of his sickness, had been met calmly 
with confident hope of heaven, was a comfort. 
The anxiety and love for those that were left 
filled his thought, and he tried to bravely keep on 
with his work. Since August, 1862, he had been 
pastor of the church at Warren, and a glorious 
revival had been enjoyed during the winter. In 
the summer he wrote: '^For some time it has 
seemed impossible for me to write or study. 
With debilitated nerves and brain, burdened with 
one of the saddest trials of my life, how can I ? 
With deep anxiety for their usefulness I did what 
I could to aid my two sons in their education. 
They graduated honorably ; one sleeps in death, 
the other is in the army. It seems but a day 
since I, a beardless youth, left the parental roof 
for ' the field,' and yet five of my family now 
repose in that field. Well — the remainder will 
soon follow. This is not our home, — * we seek a 
city.' But while on the journey we attend to 
what work strength and opportunity will allow. 
The Lord will provide." 

Before the summer was over news came that 
the war had claimed another of his family. His 
youngest brother Thomas had died in New Or- 

156 



HILLSDALE COLLEGE 

leans hospital. He was a chaplain in the army 
and his last letter had told of a precious work of 
grace in the camp. The letter which told of his 
death called him ''the good angel of the colored 
people, and the sick boys in the hospital/' 
where he acted as nurse as well as chaplain. 
His recent appointment as superintendent of 
schools for the colored children in the city had 
given him great satisfaction as an opportunity 
for service for the people he loved. 

Professor Dunn's service for the soldiers con- 
tinued through the work of the U. S. Christian 
Commission, by his own contributions and those 
solicited from others, and he was invited to speak 
at their anniversary in Chicago. 



157 



VIII 

THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT— EUROPEAN 
TRAVEL — NEBRASKA 

The General Conference was held in Hillsdale, 
in October, 1862. President E. B. Fairfield was 
elected moderator. Professor Dunn was a dele- 
gate from Illinois. A resolution was introduced by 
a committee, of which Rev. G. T. Day was chair- 
man, that the corporators of the [Morning Star 
devote three thousand dollars of surplus funds to 
Hillsdale College for a professorship of Biblical 
literature, and that the college raise nine thou- 
sand dollars for the same purpose. Mr. Day stated 
that this was presented without the knowledge or 
consent of the faculty of the college, but he saw, 
as did others, the need of such instruction in the 
institution, the college needed the funds, and 
funds not now in use in the publishing house 
might be so applied to great advantage to the 
denomination. The proposition was not for ac- 

158 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

ademical purposes but for distinctively Chris- 
tian work. Hon. Ebenezer Knowlton favored it 
strongly, Professor Whipple and Mr. Abbey, an 
agent of the college, spoke feelingly of the benefit 
it would be to those not able to go to the theolog- 
ical school in the East, but who could be useful 
workers in the Western field. Professor Dunn 
said that thirty or forty young men had pleaded 
with him to give them theological instruction, but 
he had urged them to go to the Biblical School in 
New England, and when that was not possible, 
had directed their reading. President Fairfield 
was visibly affected by the earnest interest in 
the college shown by the delegates during the 
discussion. The resolution was passed, and then 
it was unanimously voted that the new chair be 
called the Burr professorship. That year Pro- 
fessor Dunn was elected to fill this position, and 
thus began his long service as the head of the 
theological department and professor of syste- 
matic theology. 

In the winter of 1863 he left Warren to return 
to the college. Another little girl, Angienette, 
had come to brighten the home made sad by the 
repeated visits of the death messenger. So again 

159 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

with three little girls he came to Hillsdale. His 
friend, Rev. D. L. Rice, who had been for some 
time an agent for the college, was living on West 
Street, and took the Dunn family as boarders 
until they should secure their own home. His 
son, Fenelon Rice, had been welcome in the home 
of Pastor Dunn in Boston while studying music 
there, preparing for the position he now held in 
Hillsdale College. 

In the fall of 1864 the soldier boy was mus- 
tered out and returned home. He had not been 
heard from for two months because lines of com- 
munication had been cut by the Confederates, 
and the family and friends had felt very anxious^ 
fearing he had been captured or killed. He was 
now joyfully welcomed to the home circle and 
the larger circle of friends and acquaintance. His 
last year's service had been sergeant major in 
the First U. S. Cavalry, Alabama Volunteers,, 
connected with Sherman's army. Professor 
Dunn had bought a house on Manning Street, and 
a room was planned for the boy that it was hoped 
might come back, with many a thought of the 
one who could never come again, and as Way- 
land placed the books and pictures there, old 

160 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

memories crowded upon him, and he sadly said, 
*' The rest of life will be simply waiting for the 
happy reunion." 

He found his father on double duty again, 
teaching and preaching, and as he listened to 
that voice once more it thrilled him as of old, and 
he wrote in his journal what he would not say tO' 
others, though they felt the same : '' There is no 
better speaker in the United States than this 
father of mine. Sometimes in fervent and im- 
passioned passages I almost fear he can't keep it 
up and will fail, but failure is not in his book. If 
he had health to sustain the full working of his 
energies what grand results would follow." It 
was true that he had lost none of his youthful fire 
in the pulpit, and had gained through life's experi- 
ences broader thought and deeper sympathies, 
and the sermons were an inspiration to the stu- 
dents and citizens who crowded the chapel to 
hear him. Not long ago, Judge J. B. Moore of 
the Supreme Court of Michigan spoke of the first 
sermon he heard from Professor Dunn at this 
time. He was, he said, **a young man just 
from the saw-mill and the farm, and that sermon 
was a most eloquent and inspiring one which I 

161 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

shall never forget ; and in all these years since 
that time Professor Dunn has been just as elo- 
quently and effectively impressing upon the 
plastic minds of youth high ideals." 

This was the time when some of the one hun- 
dred and fifty students who had gone at the coun- 
try's call to the battlefield were returning to the 
college. Many, alas ! never returned to home or 
school, and the bronze monument on the campus, 
the pictures in alumni and literary society halls, 
keep in memory the names and faces of some 
of these brave boys. One who was privileged 
to return, Hon. N. S. Harwood of Nebraska, 
wrote recently to his old friend and teacher this 
reminiscent letter : " How well I remember the 
first time I heard you preach in the old college 
chapel ! I had just returned from camp and 
thrown aside a soldier's life to renew my studies. 
I had not heard much preaching for a long time, 
and had never heard such preaching. Your 
figure, tall and erect, your wonderful command 
of language, your brilliant imagination, your ear- 
nest speech and its rapid delivery, reminded me of 
a cavalry charge. It seemed to sweep every- 
thing before it. The effect was overpowering 

162 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

upon me, as it must have been on all your listen- 
ers ; and what an example of oratory to students 
expecting to follow professional life ! " It was no 
wonder many of the students adopted Professor 
Dunn as their ideal preacher, and still acknowl- 
edge his dominating power over their thought, 
expression, and manner as well as character and 
life. 

In the fall of 1865, Professor Dunn and his 
son, accompanied by Rev. G. T. Day, took an 
extensive trip through the Old World. They 
sailed November 25h, and a letter to the Star 
written as the shores of the homeland were 
receding, has this paragraph, which those who 
have followed with us the story of his life will 
understand : '' There is something strange about 
the atmosphere of this morning. It affects the 
heart, and the eyes do not escape. Why should 
they, for are they not gazing far away over the 
stormy past ? Do I not see distinctly, although 
through a little mist, the hills and vales of child- 
hood ; the mud, the forests, and prairies of West- 
ern labor, with Dover, Great Falls, and Boston 
in the midst ? In the foreground of the picture 
are there not hundreds of faces — five in particu- 

163 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

lar — which once smiled on my pathway, again 
looking silently upon me ? Ah, this is no imag- 
ination ! I do see them, and more — for living 
loved ones are in the view. With gratitude for 
the past, committing myself to the prayer-hear- 
ing God who careth for us, for the present to all 
these scenes and friends, farewell. God is 
everywhere. Before I go I wish to express my 
warmest thanks to the many dear friends who 
have so generously contributed nearly one thou- 
sand dollars toward my expenses. These names 
and undeserved favors are kept in mind and heart. 
How this can ever be returned God only knows. 
Through his rich blessing may they all fmd it 
more blessed to give than to receive." 

He wrote a series of letters to the Morning Star, 
addressed to the '' young folks out West," which 
were much enjoyed by old and young. East and 
West. The trip included Great Britain ; Rouen, 
Paris, and other points in France ; Milan, Flor- 
ence, Naples, and Rome and other places in Italy ; 
Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt ; the Syrian des- 
ert and Palestine. It was this latter part of the 
journey that the preacher enjoyed most, not only 
because of its novelty and the health-giving tonic 

164 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

it proved to be, but because of its associations. 
He wrote to his family : *' I never expect to enjoy 
another month of travel so' well. The scenery 
and country are interesting, but more so to visit 
the places where Christ and his apostles lived and 
labored and died. How much the world owes — 
how much we individually owe — to the Saviour 
who here died for us ! " The return journey was 
by the way of the Mediterranean Sea to Constanti- 
nople, up the Danube River to Vienna ; then 
Switzerland, Lake Geneva, and the Alpine gla- 
ciers ; Strasburg and Cologne, Berlin, Potsdam 
and Dresden ; and back to London. In England 
Revs. Dunn and Day were visiting delegates to 
the Convention of General Baptists of Great 
Britain in June, being sent as representatives of 
the Free Baptists of America, and were received 
with the greatest cordiality. They remained in 
England a short time to visit Oxford, Manchester, 
Nottingham, and other interesting places ; went 
to Scotland and Ireland, to see Glasgow and 
Edinburgh and the Scottish lakes, and the '* Gi- 
ant's Causeway," and returned to America by 
way of Quebec. Professor Dunn wrote from 
Fairfax, Vermont, August ist : "We are now so 

165 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

near home that we consider our journey com- 
pleted, its dangers, labors, and pleasures laid 
away in the dusty past, and the work of life 
again on hand. Heaven forbid that the last year 
should be lost to us or the world." His last 
letter to the Star readers closed thus: '' If you 
have read what I have written, I am thankful ; 
if it has been a source of happiness or profit to 
any, I am still more so. We have moved rather 
rapidly, passing over fifteen or twenty thousand 
miles in eight short months. We have experi- 
enced a great deal of pleasure and a great deal 
that was not pleasure. If I could transfer to you, 
my dear young friends, any amount of the former 
without the latter I should be very glad. By 
imparting the sweets of life's cup to others we 
make its very dregs a luxury to ourselves. Wish- 
ing you a great deal of goodness which will cer- 
tainly secure happiness here and hereafter, I 
remain for the church and the world, yours in 
Christian obligation, R. Dunn." 

Dr. Day wrote on his arrival at Providence : 
" I hear with gratitude of the safe arrival at home 
of Brother Dunn and son, companions in a por- 
tion of life which will never cease to be-memo- 

166 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

rable and which they have done so much to in- 
vest with interest." 

The journey and its experiences never ceased 
to be a subject of interesting conversation among 
Professor Dunn's friends, for he was a rare 
conversationalist and could give a description or 
tell a story with a lifelikeness that was fascina- 
ting. And the material gathered furnished the 
groundwork for many lectures which became 
sources of information to many churches and 
institutes as well as to the students of the college. 
He came back to Hillsdale unannounced, slipping 
quietly in on a night train to find a light burning 
and a solitary watcher waiting, for whom there 
was no sleep that night for very excess of joy 
and thankfulness. The next morning three little 
girls were ready to entertain him with all they 
had learned during his long absence, or to hear 
his wonderful stories of the Empress Eugenie 
who had hair just like theirs, of the marvelous 
dolls and musical instruments he had seen, and 
of the queer children he met. But the first sight 
of the familiar figure on the streets that afternoon 
was the sign for an enthusiastic demonstration of 
welcome from studefTts and citizens. 

167 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

He took up again the double burden of profes- 
sor of theology and pastor of the church. A new 
work was now added. The church was still 
worshiping in the college chapel and it was felt 
that they should have a church home of their 
own. It would be a great effort to bring to suc- 
cessful completion this undertaking, for the mem- 
bership was not wealthy, and the edifice must be 
:a large one to accommodate not only ordinary 
church services but the large audiences of Com- 
mencement Day and other college gatherings. 
He threw himself into the task. Every subscrip- 
tion but one was taken by him. His constant 
oversight saved many delays and needless expend- 
itures. As the work was done by day's work, 
not by single contract, close attention was neces- 
sary. The lecture room still bears its silent 
witness to the time he risked his life to save the 
church from destruction by fire when he rushed 
up the ladder and the scaffolding and snatched a 
falling light left by a careless employee. The 
church was dedicated Jan. i, 1868. An immense 
audience filled the large auditorium while the 
pastor spoke on the influence of the church on 
society and civilization, the text being Gen. 28 : 

168 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

i6, 17. The cost of the church was nearly 
twenty thousand dollars, and the ladies raised 
one thousand eight hundred dollars for furnishing. 
During these years Professor Dunn had other 
demands upon his time and strength. A church 
had been organized in Chicago, and an urgent 
call extended to him to become its pastor in the 
summer of 1865. But he felt that if able to work 
at all his place was in Hillsdale, and the European 
trip had been suggested by friends and was 
already planned. The church renewed the call, 
promising a year's leave of absence, but he de- 
clined. He continued to assist, however, in their 
church building, in the securing of a pastor, and 
by contributing and soliciting financial aid. 

Another enterprise of considerable moment was 
the establishment of a Western denominational 
paper, which had been often discussed and finally 
projected. A Publishing Association was formed 
in 1867. Rev. D. M. Graham was made editor, 
Rev. A. H. Chase publishing agent. Francis 
Wayland Dunn was called to be assistant editor. 
As Mr. Graham was pastor of the Chicago 
church, and Mr. Chase connected with the Freed- 
men's Mission, it followed that much of the work 

169 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

fell Upon the office editor, Mr. Dunn. The paper 
was called 7he Christian Freeman, and was pub- 
lished in Chicago, and its literary character and 
pure tone and bright editorials gave it a wide 
reading. Will Carleton claims to have received 
more help on style and diction from the edito- 
rials of Wayland Dunn than from any other 
source. But like his father the ambition of the 
young man went beyond his strength, and in the 
spring of 1868 a "little cold " developed serious 
consequences, and a change of climate was ad- 
vised. He took a trip South with his Uncle Hiram, 
and the letters from New Orleans and interme- 
diate points were enjoyed by many who did not 
know that it was the brilliant young editor who 
was beginning a long fight of seven years against 
the disease that had carried the mother away 
in her youth. On the way North he visited the 
old battlefields and the place where the brother 
had spent his last days on earth. Three months 
of hard work in Chicago, and again he was driven 
from the office, and Mr. Chase wrote : " Our 
readers know with what ability he has managed 
the columns of The Freeman and the interest with 
which they have read his spicy and able editorials, 

170 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

As a writer he has few superiors, and is always 
a wise counselor and true friend," With a 
college friend he went to the Rocky Mountains 
for the relief the South had failed to give. 
They joined in a Buffalo hunt and were attacked 
by Indians and so had thrilling stories to tell. 
After an absence of five months he returned to 
the editor's sanctum in December. But in March, 
1869, his editorial was entitled ''Finally," and 
brought tears to the eyes of many as they read 
his reference to the outward-bound steamer as 
she swung from the pier at North River: *M 
remember a kind of awe, a half fear, a vivid 
consciousness of my own utter helplessness. Be- 
hind was confidence and surety ; before us was 
the wide unknown. Something like this feeling 
takes possession of me to-night. All that is cer- 
tain seems slipping beyond my reach as I find 
myself swung loose from my moorings, dropping 
down the river of time to the ocean of eternity." 
The summer of 1868 Mrs. Dunn's health had 
failed also, and the family spent the vacation in 
Chicago, where she could have the special treat- 
ment required by eminent physicians. Professor 
Dunn's name had been proposed for Congress 

171 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Ihat year, but with the care of the church and 
his department in college and the anxiety in 
regard to the family he had no desire for political 
honors, and declined the nomination. In Novem- 
ber, 1869, the publisher of The Freeman resigned 
and the corporators appointed a committee on 
publication, with Ransom Dunn as general agent. 
He said: ''From the first it has been my pur- 
pose to assume no responsibility respecting the 
editorship or publishing of this paper except to 
pay my proportion if necessary. But circum- 
stances beyond my control have overcome this 
resolution, and the necessities of the case and 
the decision of my associates and the indications 
of Providence render further refusal impossible." 
Henry J. King was made book-keeper of the con- 
cern. Professor Dunn, with his usual energy, 
worked to make the paper a success. But in 
March, 1870, he announces: "It seems to be 
unavoidably necessary to say that two months 
since a shock suddenly put an end to professional 
work. Continued prostration renders it neces- 
sary to retire from all labor and seek rest and 
physical exercise and natural scenery for relief." 
Wayland had been traveling through Kansas 

172 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

and Nebraska, and had purchased land in Rich- 
ardson county, Nebraska. Here the family moved 
in March, 1870, and settled at Salem, hoping that 
relief from overwork and nervous strain might 
come from the grand views and balmy air of the 
rolling prairie. 

Professor Dunn would not allow himself to 
preach at first, but always attended services if 
able to be out. Some of the preachers in those 
small towns in that new country were men who 
had had very little education, and a friend said to 
him once, *' I don't see how you stand it to sit 
and listen to such preaching, Professor." The 
reply was, ''They all say some good things, and 
the text is all right, and I can think of other 
things on the subject." The people were anxious 
to have him preach if he could without injury ta 
himself, and one man expressed surprise at the 
amount of work he was doing, both mentally and 
physically, connected with the business of open- 
ing up a new farm and improving such a large 
one. He replied, pointing to the fields of grain 
and the fences, '' Well, brother, there is no salva- 
tion or damnation in this kind of work." This 
expression speaks volumes concerning the feeling. 

173 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

of responsibility, the deep conviction of duty, the 
utter absorption of self in work for others, the 
burden for souls, that wore him out repeatedly. 
The intensity of feeling that used up all nervous 
strength was the very force that impelled others 
to action, turned souls into the Kingdom, and 
stirred men to earnestness of purpose and en- 
deavor. 

So the months went by, the wild prairie was 
becoming a cultivated farm, the temporary shelter 
exchanged for a new and comfortable house, 
health improving, and the family more contented. 
The Chicago church gave Professor Dunn an- 
other urgent call to be its pastor in the spring of 
1 871, and he had come to the conclusion that he 
would attempt it, promising only one sermon each 
Sabbath, and with the condition that their indebt- 
edness should be raised. 

But at this time came the most imperative call 
in all his history — circumstances were such at 
Hillsdale as to demand his immediate presence, 
said the local trustees. He went, and saved the 
day. Teachers who were trembling felt coura- 
geous, students who were planning to leave de- 
cided to remain, citizens who were losing confi- 

174 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

dence were reassured. Let those who were 
present tell the story. ** How well," says one, 
"I recall the scene at chapel. I heard a great 
cheer, and looking around saw Professor Dunn 
walking rapidly down the aisle. He conducted 
chapel exercises, and then gave an address. 
Such eloquence, such personal power, I had 
never witnessed before. There was a recog- 
nized leader. Hope and loyalty took the place 
of gloom and distrust." Another says: *'I joined 
with the others in making that old chapel ring 
when Professor Dunn entered that morning. 
And I remember the sermon the next day. I 
never heard its equal before or since. I never 
heard it approached in pathos, eloquence, and 
power." Still another: "The picture painted 
in that hour hangs undimmed on the walls of 
memory's chamber. What sincerity, moral ear- 
nestness, dauntless courage, faith in God, spoke 
through his life and emanated from his person. 
From that hour I trusted Ransom Dunn abso- 
lutely." There are occasions that stand out 
like mountain peaks in the history of individuals 
and institutions. This was such an one in the 
life of Ransom Dunn and in the history of Hills- 

175 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

dale College. He was inspired for that work at 
that time. But the question now arose, could he 
be persuaded to remain? 

The president had resigned and Professor Dunn 
was urged to accept the presidency. This he 
declined to do, but it was felt his continued coun- 
sel was needed. Was his health permanently 
restored ? And the failing health of his son was 
to be considered. A member of the faculty later 
thus represented the situation: '* Wayland with 
calm but intelligent eyes looked at his own van- 
ishing future, well knowing it was only a ques- 
tion of time — a few months or years at most, 
and his brief work would be done. He had been 
asked to accept the chair of helles lettres in the 
college. Might he not die with the harness on } 
They would go back — father and son. One was 
beyond what climate could do for anybody ; the 
other was sufficiently restored to be worth much 
to the cause ; and again the family moved to 
College Hill." At the home on the corner of 
College and Hillsdale Streets, in the large, ram- 
bling house behind the hedge of arbor vit^, was 
the study from which these two men with well 
stored brains, broad scholarship, and extensive 

176 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 




Professor F. W. Dann. 



travel were to send out their influence. The 
class of '73, and other students fortunate enough 
to have the privilege of study with Professor 
Wayland Dunn, have never ceased to be grateful 
for it. His painstaking work in charts, tables, 
and diagrams for use in classes in logic and 
English, and especially the original sketches and 

177 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

the photographs for the class in esthetics, were 
appreciated by the students. The examination 
of the exercises for society contests and anniver- 
saries was a valuable part of his work, for while 
his criticisms were severe he took time to explain 
the reasons for them and to put heart into the 
discouraged writers. The character of the man 
had an indescribable influence. One young lady 
found in tears one day said, as if every one 
would understand, '' To fail in his class ! " 

But it was not for long. His brief, beautiful 
service closed Dec. 13, 1874. He had attended 
the last covenant meeting of the church, and in 
his remarks spoke of death as ''going to sleep to 
awake in heaven." It was true in his case, for 
a few nights later he fell asleep in Jesus, and 
when the day dawned it was for him a brighter 
day in a more glorious clime. The brave strug- 
gle was over ; he rested in peace. The agony of 
the father who saw the son of such brilliant 
promise and beautiful character taken from him 
cannot be chronicled. There is an old Spanish 
proverb that says, '''Whither goest thou. Sor- 
row ? ' ' Where I am used to go.' " And truly 
in Ransom Dunn's life was sorrow's path often 

178 



THE THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT 

used. But trust and confidence in the Father 
who *'doeth all things well " sustained him, and 
he went on with saddened heart and lonely life 
but untiring zeal in his work. 



The year 1874 saw a sad catastrophe in the 
college. On the night of the 6th of March, dur- 
ing the spring vacation, a fire broke out in West 
Hall, and notwithstanding most vigorous efforts, 
three-fifths of the college building went down 
that night. Professor Dunn seemed everywhere, 
directing students and citizens, who bravely and 
manfully fought the destroying flames. It was 
evident that West Hall must go, and so the efforts 
were concentrated upon the centre building. 
With his love for books it was natural that Pro- 
fessor Dunn's first thought should be to save the 
library if possible. The students with equal 
energy tried to secure the furniture of their so- 
ciety halls. Carpets were torn up and deluged 
with water and placed upon the roof of East 
Hall, students even climbed the dome with water. 
But fire and smoke drove all down, and at last 
they could only stand and watch the leaping 
flames climb to the very top and wreathe the 

179 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

columns in fiery light — a grand sight, if it had 
not been the dear old college. On the next 
dreary day the campus presented a sad spectacle 
with the blackened ruins of the building, the 
motley collection of things on the lawn, the. 
groups of gloomy students and citizens who 
sadly viewed the havoc the fire had wrought. 
But immediate action was taken to rebuild, pro- 
vision was made for accommodating classes in 
the church, houses were opened for the students, 
and the school went on without interruption. 



180 



IX 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES— RIO GRANDE AND 
HILLSDALE— CALIFORNIA 

During the rebuilding of the college after the 
fire of 1874, Professor Dunn secured leave of 
absence and went to Rio Grande, Ohio, to assist 
in establishing Rio Grande College. This school 
was the gift of Deacon Nehemiah Atwood and 
his wife, Pamelia. They were converts of Rev. 
I. Z. Haning, and through his influence founded 
the Atwood Institute at Albany, Ohio. But the 
lack of interest on the part of citizens in the 
town where it was located caused Mr. Atwood to 
found the school at Rio Grande. As the provis- 
ions of the will made it necessary to build a 
denominational college at this place, on prop- 
erty given for the purpose, it seemed wise to 
have some Free Baptists who had had experience 
in such work assist in the plans for it. Rev. Mr. 
Haning moved to Rio Grande for this purpose 
and called to their assistance Professor Dunn, 

181 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

whose experience at Chester, Ohio, and at 
Spring Arbor and Hillsdale, Mich., had fitted him 
to direct such an enterprise. He secured the 
charter, arranged the by-lawsj and organized the 
board of trustees in November, 1875. The build- 
ing already built was a good one, but another 
was needed for dormitory and dining hall, which 
he persuaded the donor, Mrs. Wood, formerly 
Mrs. Atwood, to add to her gift. He was elected 
president and accepted the place for a short time. 
Prof. A. A. Moulton, Prof. Geo. A. Slayton, and 
Miss Nellie M. Phillips were the first teachers. 
In 1879 Professor Moulton was made president. 
When Miss Phillips left for India, Miss Helen A. 
Dunn took her place. The college was dedicated 
August, 1876, the dedication sermon and prayer 
being given by President Ransom Dunn, D.D. 
The buildings with ten acres of land, valued at 
forty thousand dollars, were deeded to the trus- 
tees. The remainder of the estate, worth over 
fifty thousand dollars, was bequeathed to the 
college through the influence of Professor Dunn, 
for an endowment. The school opened for stu- 
dents in September, 1876, and has been doing 
a useful work ever since. 

182 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

During the spring of 1876 Professor Dunn 
spent some time, at the request of the Home 
Mission Society, in visiting the churches of the 
freedmen in Southern Illinois, In the summer he 
took his wife and the two younger daughters who 
were at home, Helen and Nettie, to the Centen- 
nial Exposition at Philadelphia, visiting Washing- 
ton on the way. As they passed over the Cum- 
berland mountains and down the Potomac river 
to Harper's Ferry they thoroughly enjoyed the 
grand views, and he assured them they would 
scarcely find scenery to surpass this should they 
travel in the Old World. After the busy but 
happy days at the capital and at the Exposition, 
and visits with friends in the Pennsylvania 
mountains, they stopped at Niagara Falls, and 
returned home to rest for the approaching year 
of college work. These family trips were always 
delightful, as he was an excellent manager of 
details of travel, and most kind and thoughtful in 
his care, and his conversations and explanations 
based on his own experience and wide reading 
added much to the enjoyment and educative 
benefit of the journey. In inviting the older 
daughter to accompany them he said, 'M cannot 

184 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

leave much money for my children and wish to 
do all I can for their happiness while they live." 
She was not able to go on this occasion, as her 
family were about to move to Rio Grande, where 
her husband, Mr. G. A. Slayton, was to be one 
of the teachers ; but remembers as one of her 
most pleasant memories a trip with her father to 
New England to the old home scenes. 

With Rio Grande on a good foundation he 
could now give more time to the theological de- 
partment at Hillsdale and to general denomina- 
tional interests. He was always in demand for 
dedication of churches. In 1878 it was his privi- 
lege to re-dedicate some beautiful churches in 
Ohio on the sites of log schoolhouses where he 
had preached forty years before. He re-dedi- 
cated the church at Rome and dedicated a new 
church at Lansing, Mich. At the latter place The 
Republican characterizes the sermon as ''mas- 
terly," and tells of the large audience that heard 
it, occupying every inch of available room. He 
was also a popular speaker at Sunday School 
Institutes and temperance meetings and other 
gatherings. And no one was so much called on 
for funerals in the town and vicinity of Hillsdale 

185 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

and even at a distance. His sympathetic nature 
and his own heart experiences, his strong faith 
and sweet spirit, and his intimate knowledge of 
the Bible, made him a most helpful friend on 
such occasions. Much of the time he was sup- 
plying the pulpit at Reading or other towns near 
Hillsdale. And his occasional leading of the 
students' weekly prayer meeting on Tuesday 
evening was eagerly anticipated. He felt the 
importance of these as a pivotal centre in college 
life. He said at one of these services, '' Talk of 
influence ; this hour, this single hour, once a 
week, does more to influence character in this 
college than any ten hours besides." For sev- 
eral years a Western Ministerial Institute was 
held in the fall, in which he was always one of 
the lecturers. 

But one of the services most dear to him was 
the ordination of those who had given themselves 
to the Christian ministry ; and those who had 
sat under his teaching in theology, or had been 
students in the college where he was a teacher, 
felt it a great privilege to have his hands on their 
heads in this solemn service. One young man 
who took his college course at Hillsdale, but later 

186 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 







/f 


,— ' "^ 


f ■-* 


^^ 




1^ 


'^ 





Professor Ransom Dunn, D.D. 1875. 



his theology in a school of another denomina- 
tion, was asked when about to enter a pastorate 
if he wished re-ordination or a special service by 
ministers of that denomination. His quick and 

187 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

decided reply was: "No, sir! the hands of the 
most saintly man I ever knew have been placed 
upon my head. No other can do for me what 
Professor Dunn has already performed." One 
well-remembered occasion of this character was 
at the time of the college commencement in 1880. 
On the evening of Baccalaureate Sunday he 
spoke before the theological school, *'a most 
eloquent, powerful, and telling discourse," from 
John 4:35, '' Lift up your eyes and look on the 
fields; for they are white already to harvest." 
At its close he proceeded with the ordination of 
four candidates for the ministry, Henry M. Ford, 
Dudley E. Clark, William A. Myers, and Will C. 
Burns. Mr. Clark w^as the son of Rufus Clark, 
one of Professor Dunn's early converts, an 
effective minister in Ohio and Wisconsin. The 
young minister, after a few years of earnest 
labor, went to meet his father and gain the re- 
ward of the Master. Mr. Myers is active in the 
denomination to-day, a pastor in Cleveland ; Mr. 
Burns is still preaching; and Mr. Ford is the 
energetic agent of the Conference Board. 

About this time Professor Dunn had the mis- 
fortune to break his right arm, and it was sup- 
IS8 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

posed that he would lay aside his work for a 
time, but he kept his appointments as usual, 
taking his daughter to drive for him as he went 
to weddings or funerals. And in order to keep 
up his large correspondence he learned to write 
with his left hand, which was not an easy thing 
for a man to do at his age ; and his lectures were 
prepared and given daily, as usual. As an illus- 
tration of the busy life he led and of his versatile 
talents, take the record of ten days as gleaned 
from.^.the papers of that date — a temperance 
meeting in the town, a funeral on the Hill, a 
lecture at a Sunday School Institute at Hanover, 
an address at a Y. M. C. A. convention at Albion, 
and one at a Bible Society meeting in Coldwater. 
One of the alumni trustees, E. A. Merrill, said: 
'Mt must have been Professor Dunn's constant 
work that kept him young in spirit as well as 
vigorous in mind and body. Surely no one could 
have been more free from the danger of rusting 
out." He was sixty years old, and his gray hair 
told that story, and some would say ''our ven- 
erable professor"; but his quickstep and ener- 
getic speech and action told the true story of an 
active brain and young heart. His interest was 

189 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

as keen as ever in local matters. The national 
championship of Hillsdale's boating crew pleased 
him exceedingly, and especially as reports showed 
that the character and spirit displayed both in 
this country and in Europe were as commend- 
able as the rowing was successful. 

In 1880 the Centennial General Conference 
met at Weirs, N. H., on the shore of the beautiful 
Lake Winnepesaukee. Professor Dunn attended 
with his wife and two daughters, the elder of 
whom, Miss Helen, as well as himself, was to 
take part in the program. A report of the meet- 
ings stated that " Professor Dunn probably 
preached the ablest sermon of his life at this 
Conference at Weirs. It lent dignity to the 
whole denomination, and will long live in gra- 
cious memory." One of the most interesting 
features of that conference was the ride to New 
Durham to visit the grave of Benjamin Randall, 
the founder of the denomination, and the house 
in which he organized the first Free Baptist 
church. This house had been built one hundred 
and fifty years before, but was well preserved. 
The large front room occupied by Randall and 
his friends on that occasion had still the same 

190 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 




Mrs. Dunn. 1875. 



floor, ''tree-nailed" with hard wood pegs, as 
was then the custom; the chair and table that 
Father Randall used, the books on the shelves 
and other relics were there. A minister who 
was present says he ''can never forget the 
solemn meeting in that spot. Professor Dunn 
was asked to pray in this room of hallowed mem- 

191 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

ories. As he came forward he said, ' Randall 
kneeled when he prayed, let us kneel and pray,' 
and the outpouring of his soul in thanksgiving 
and praise impressed me so that years cannot 
efface it." 

About a mile away is the cemetery where lie 
the remains of the Randall family. It is sur- 
rounded by a plain iron fence, and in the centre 
is the marble obelisk that marks the grave of 
Benjamin Randall. A collation was served to 
the delegates in a grove near by, where a tem- 
porary platform had been erected. Here the 
meeting was called to order by Pres. O. B. 
Cheney of Bates College, the moderator of the 
conference, who introduced Prof. Ransom Dunn 
of Hillsdale College, who made an address ap- 
propriate to the occasion. One of the younger 
ministers, now prominent and active in denomi- 
national interests. Rev. H. M. Ford, says that in 
his study of the denomination he has ''come to 
feel a strong attachment amounting almost to in- 
fatuation for 'the fathers,' their pathetic strug- 
gles and wonderful triumphs, and instinctively 
the highest seat is given to Ransom Dunn in all 
that glorious company." 

192 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

One of his first services on his return to Hills- 
dale in the fall was to oificiate at the funeral of 
Hon. Henry Waldron, president of the board of 
trustees of the college, and to speak at a memo- 
rial meeting held at the court house. It was- 
laid on his heart to speak to the relatives about 
giving to the college a suitable memorial that 
should commemorate Mr. Waldron's valuable 
services in the establishment of the college at 
Hillsdale, and since that time in the administra- 
tion of its affairs. After a night of prayer and 
thought he told his wife that he felt it his duty 
to present this matter to Dr. Waldron, the 
brother of the deceased, who was a Presbyterian 
minister. He made an appointment to meet him 
at the bank of which his brother had been the 
president. Mr. F. M. Stewart, the cashier, who 
has since become president, was present and re- 
members the long and earnest talk these two 
gentlemen had, and the interest shown by Dr. 
Waldron in the suggestion of Professor Dunn, 
and he at once went to see his sister and sister- 
in-law about it. In a short time the prudential 
committee was called together, in October, 1880, 
to meet Dr. Waldron, at his request. They sent 

193 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

for Professor Dunn to meet with them, their 
records say, and the gift of fifteen thousand dol- 
lars was received for a *' Waldron Professorship." 

This winter occurred the marriage of his sec- 
ond daughter. The oldest daughter, Abbie, had 
married in April, 1873, M^- George A. Slayton. 
Both were members of the class of 1872 in Hills- 
dale College. Helen also married a classmate, 
Dr. L. M. Gates, of the class of 1876 at Hills- 
dale, and a graduate of the medical department 
of the State University at Ann Arbor. At the 
time of her marriage in 1880 she was teaching in 
the college at Hillsdale, and he was superintend- 
ent of the city hospital in Scranton, Pa. 

Professor Dunn's services at the college church 
continued to be blessed, the sermons being 
forcible and eloquent, the baptismal and com- 
munion services impressive. The baptistery was 
not yet placed in the church, and even after it 
was built some preferred the outdoor baptism. 
In November of this year when he baptized nine 
of the students in the little stream west of the 
college he referred to the large number it had 
been his privilege to baptize during his life, and 
in that place during a quarter of a century. As 

194 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

far as known the last baptism at which he offici- 
ated was that of his eldest grandchild, William 
Ransom Slayton, in 1887, during a vacation visit 
at Salem, Neb. During the later years of his 
life he thought best to give this service to younger 
ministers. A series of union gospel meetings at 
the court house Sunday afternoons during the 
year 1880-81 had a wide influence. Two of the 
sermons of Professor Dunn at this time are still 
remembered as having had great effect. One 
was a "masterly portrayal of the blessing of 
good habits and the curse of evil ones"; the 
other was on ''the religion of common sense." 
The Methodist pastor in the town at that time 
was Rev. Mr. Tarr, who assisted greatly in these 
meetings. His daughter Corabel and Professor 
Dunn's daughter Nettie were a few years later to 
be associated in Christian work for young 
women, Miss Dunn being the first traveling sec- 
retary of the Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tion and Miss Tarr the second, and both being 
effective speakers and energetic workers. 

Professor Dunn — or Dr. Dunn, as we should 
now call him, for Bates College had given him 
the well-earned degree in 1873, ^^id he was 

195 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

known by this title abroad, even if the old one 
clung to him at home — had been appointed a 
visiting delegate by the General Conference to 
the Congregational Council at St. Louis, which 
he attended in November, 1880; and during that 
winter he gave several lectures in Illinois and 
Missouri. His work in the college was more ac- 
ceptable than ever, the classes in doctrinal the- 
ology being the largest yet seen in the college. 
But his health began to show the effect of con- 
tinued hard work and of the severely cold winter,, 
and he planned a summer vacation trip to Cali- 
fornia. Before he left two important services 
were his. One was the funeral of Dr. Cressy, 
a resident of the city for thirty-seven years, the 
one Professor Dunn first talked with in regard to 
placing the college at Hillsdale, and the one to 
whom the faculty and trustees looked for help in 
getting the college bill through the legislature in 
order to secure their charter. 

The other was the dedication of the monu- 
ment to the memory of Rev. Jeremiah Phillips, 
D.D., one of the first Free Baptist missionaries 
to India, who had died the previous year, and his 
monument had been erected by ministers and 

196 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

friends in the denomination under the auspices of 
the college faculty. This monument is in the 
beautiful Oak Grove Cemetery, north of the col- 
lege grounds, and was placed between that of 
Prof. F. W. Dunn and that of Prof. Spencer J. 
Fowler, the latter having been erected by mem- 
bers of the class of 1876 and other friends. The 
remarks of Dr. Dunn on this occasion were 
beautiful and touching, as he recalled the labors 
of this consecrated veteran in the foreign field. 
About this time Dr. Dunn was called to Goble- 
ville, Mich., to assist in special meetings, and 
had the privilege of baptizing twenty-five con- 
verts, one of whom was a little boy ten years of 
age, who afterward went to Hillsdale for a college 
course, and remained for a theological course, 
and Professor Dunn pronounced him one of 
the best students he ever had in his classes. 
His name was Harry S. Myers, and to-day he is 
the energetic secretary of the United Society of 
the Free Baptist young people. He says that 
ever since the time that Professor Dunn led him 
into the stream he had been his "father," and 
''his life an inspiration " to him. 



19: 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Travel and change of scene were always a 
stimulus to the overworked body and wearied 
brain of Professor Dunn, and the mountains and 
sea especially restful to him. So this summer 
trip to the Pacific coast was a much enjoyed one. 
The wild scenery of the western canons brought 
to his rnind the grandeur of the Sinai mountains ; 
Yosemite recalled the beauty of Lebanon, and 
called forth the exclamation of the Psalmist, 
**The works of the Lord are great, sought out by 
all them that have pleasure therein." While 
away for rest he did not refuse opportunities for 
preaching, for he supplied the pulpit of the 
Union Square church in San Francisco several 
Sabbaths, and preached in other places, as the 
following extract from the Riverside Press shows : 
*'Prof. Ransom Dunn, D. D., of Hillsdale Col- 
lege, Mich., spoke last Sunday in the Congrega- 
tional church in San Bernardino. Quite a num- 
ber went up from Riverside, some traveling 
fifteen miles to be present. Professor Dunn is 
one of the most eloquent pulpit orators in the 
United States, and the treat was a rare one, never 
before enjoyed by the people of this valley." 

198 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

The much loved President of the United States 
was by the eastern sea at this time and a nation 
watched and prayed by the bedside of Garfield. 
But with the waning days of summer the life 
went out and a nation mourned. Hillsdale joined 
with others in memorial services, and none more 
appropriately; for, as Dr. Ball said, "if there 
had been no Geauga Seminary from which to 
send out a teacher, S. D. Bates, to teach in Gar- 
field's school district and urge James Garfield to 
go to school, if there had been no Geauga Semi- 
nary at Chester Hill, five miles from his home» 
to which he could go in his poverty and there 
find help and encouragement, there would have 
been no General Garfield, no President Garfield.. 
He was one of the early fruits of Free Baptist 
sacrifice in the cause of Christian education." 
And Geauga Seminary was now a part of Hills- 
dale College, and so it was eminently fitting that 
Ransom Dunn, who helped to found both, should 
speak at the Garfield memorial service. The 
suggestion was made by citizens that the remain- 
ing one of the group of five buildings be erected 
and named '' Garfield Hall." But it is still wait- 
ing for some good friend of Garfield or of the col- 

199 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

lege to give the necessary sum to erect and equip 
it, which we trust may soon be done, for the 
college needs to-day as much as then more build- 
ings, better equipment, and larger endowment. 

In the spring of 1882 Dr. Dunn was called to 
Storer College at Harper's Ferry to dedicate 
Anthony Hall. At the Hillsdale commencement 
he gave the address on class day, when the gradu- 
ating class presented to the college a fountain for 
the front campus. To this class belonged Dr. 
Dunn's youngest child, Nettie. The summer 
saw him back among the mountains of Vermont, 
and at the seashore, where he delivered a course 
of lectures at the Ocean Park Assembly at Old 
Orchard Beach, Maine. A visitor remarked that 
Dr. Dunn seemed to have ''the lion's share of 
the honors on this occasion." The lectures were 
evidently appreciated, for before he left the man- 
agement tried to exact a promise that he would 
return the following season. 

He had decided to resign his place in the col- 
lege, feeling that younger men should be taking 
up the burden of active work there, and he 
hoped to be able to do something in building up 
denominational interests in the newer West. At 
200 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

the trustee meeting in 1883, when he tendered 
his resignation, reports the Hillsdale //^ra/^, **a 
complimentary resolution was passed by a rising 
vote in recognition of his labors in and for the 
college for thirty-one years. At the chapel the 
following morning he was surprised by a presen- 
tation of a set of McClintock and Strong's Re- 
ligious Encyclopedia, in library binding, as a 
mark of appreciation from faculty and students. 
One of the theological students, D. B. Reed, 
presented an album containing the photographs 
of the donors. Hon. J. C. Patterson handed 
him a purse of one hundred and fifty-five dollars 
as a token of esteem from the trustees. In re- 
sponse to these unexpected remembrances, he 
attempted a cheerful manner, but when he re- 
ferred to his service for the college and the ties 
that bound him to Hillsdale he was nearly over- 
come with emotion and many an eye moistened." 
A local paper mentioned his retirement as '^an 
event in college history, for he had been so long 
a representative man of the college and denomi- 
nation." Another stated that he ** sustained 
such a relation to the public and especially to the 
201 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

denomination through all the years of his long: 
connection with the college that made his work 
indispensable.*' 

He attended the General Conference in the 
fall of 1883 at Minneapolis and was elected mod- 
erator. After a year's absence in Nebraska, 
when he returned to attend the trustee meeting, 
pressure was brought to bear upon him to mduce 
him to return to Hillsdale. It was felt that even 
if he did no teaching his presence and influence 
were invaluable, and if he could be prevailed 
upon to again assist in raising endowment he 
** could do more to secure funds and keep open 
channels of acquaintance and sympathy between 
the public and the college than any other man."' 
So he concluded to return. A letter from Nebraska, 
in August, 1884, says : *'Our furniture and house 
are sold, books and clothes packed, and we are 
spending our last night in this camp. I am ex-^ 
pecting to attend a quarterly meeting one hundred 
miles west next Sabbath, and next week go back 
to Hillsdale. This seems to be a sudden and sin- 
gular move. But we do not see any special advan- 
tage here in regard to health. 1 am not able ta 
do the kind of itinerant revival work needed in 
202 




The home in Hillsdale. 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

this State. The trustees were unanimous and 
seemingly anxious for my return to the college, 
where it is thought I can still be of service." A 
temporary home was secured on Union Street, 
while his new house was being built on Hillsdale 
Street. This modest, comfortable home, which 
he retained as long as he lived, was on the site 
of one of the oldest houses on College Hill, the 
original home of Dr. C. C. Johnson. 

The resignation of the president of the college 
had been handed in at the trustee meeting to 
take effect in January. They urged Professor 
Dunn to accept the position. He consented to 
act for the remainder of the year. The college 
has not had a long list of presidents. Rev. E. B. 
Fairfield was president from the opening of the 
college at Hillsdale until 1869. He was a man of 
executive ability, an eloquent speaker and popu- 
lar teacher. He became chancellor of the Uni- 
versity of Nebraska and United States consul 
to France. Dr. James Calder of Harrisburg suc- 
ceeded him and resigned to accept the presidency 
of State College of Pennsylvania. In 1871 the 
scholarly D. M. Graham, who had been the presi- 
dent at Spring Arbor, again became president. 

203 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Dr. D. W. C. Durgin in 1874 entered upon a 
term of service of eleven years, and has since 
been engaged in the labors of a New England 
pastor. Space will not permit us to tell of the 
able administration of these cultured men, nor of 
the equally able work of the talented and conse- 
crated teachers who labored with them. Our 
story is of the senior professor who now became 
president. Old students and former merribers of 
the faculty received the news of his election to 
the presidency with great satisfaction, feeling it a 
deserved honor. Prof. George McMillan of the 
State University of Nebraska wrote: *Mt is indeed 
gratifying to me that my dear friend and old-time 
yoke-fellow is at the helm. With a united fac- 
ulty under his administration the college cannot 
but prosper." The papers of the State reported 
the fact with complimentary notices of his record 
and of his popularity at home and abroad. 

Among the interesting events of his adminis- 
tration was the opening of the new Dickerson 
Gymnasium, the first college gymnasium building 
in the State. President Dunn made an address 
on this occasion and other interesting speeches 
were given, and great enthusiasm was mani- 

204 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

fested. A pleasant visit was enjoyed with his 
brother, Rev. L. A. Dunn, D.D., who had been 
for some years the president of Pella College, 
Iowa. He gave a lecture in Hillsdale for the 
benefit of the Christian Associations in the col- 
lege on ** Scenes in the Orient," illustrated by 
ten oriental costumes and other curios. Dr. 
Dunn had made two extensive journeys in the 
Holy Land and is the author of a book entitled 
"Footprints of the Redeemer." 

The largest baccalaureate audience ever seen 
in the college church assembled to hear President 
Ransom Dunn's sermon to the graduating class of 
1885, on the relations of Christianity to civiliza- 
tion, from Daniel 2: 44. One report said: "\t 
is only commonplace to say that for more than a 
quarter of a century Professor Dunn has been 
the idol of hundreds of the students, but for the 
first time in college history this teacher, whose 
thirty years of brilliant service dwarfs the record 
of all other servants of the college, gives the 
baccalaureate and presides at commencement as 
president." 

The college was honored on commencement 
day by the presence of Gov. Alger, accompanied 

205 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

by a suite of distinguished gentlemen and ladies, 
who came on a special train from Lansing to at- 
tend the exercises at Hillsdale even though the 
Legislature was in session. When President 
Dunn introduced him, the Governor said : " Hills- 
dale ranks among the foremost of educational 
institutions. Its connection with the war that 
saved our nation is a most honorable record." 
State Supt. Nelson of the Governor's staff also 
spoke, and referred to his own former connection 
with Hillsdale College, and paid a tribute to 
President Dunn *'so delicately winged with love 
and veneration for his old teacher that many an 
eye grew moist," and the president found tears 
on his face as the memories of those days before 
the war were brought back to him. The chap- 
lain of the day was Ex-President Fairfield, and 
Ex-President Durgin also had a place on the plat- 
form. 

It was the year of the quinquennial reunion of 
the alumni, and the climax of the interest of 
commencement week was this gathering of old 
students and friends for their literary exercises 
and banquet. For the first time since fame had 
honored him as the poet of the people Will Carle- 

206 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

Ion came back to his alma mater to give an 
alumni poem, ''Our March through the Past." 
At the banquet President Dunn was called on for 
a toast, and said he wished to simply give a 
prophecy, "From this body of men and women 
and their successors, the loyal alumni, shall come 
the benefactions that shall make Hillsdale College 
great and eternal." The publication of a college 
paper called The Reunion, to announce the meet- 
ings in connection with this interesting com- 
mencement season, was enjoyed by many who 
could not be present. It was continued the fol- 
lowing year as The Advance, and published a 
series of articles on the founders of the college. 
The board of trustees did not elect another presi- 
dent, though President Dunn urged that his ser- 
vice be considered closed with the year. He was 
asked to continue to act as president until such 
time as the committee to whom the matter was 
referred should make satisfactory recommenda- 
tion. 

The summer was spent in New England, for, 
as his wife said, ''a change does him so much 
good ; in fact, that is the only way he lives, for 
lie will take neither rest nor medicine until really 

207 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

obliged to." At the Ocean Park Assembly he 
was again one of the lecturers, and had also the 
privilege of introducing Will Carleton, the poet, 
on his first appearance there, which he did by 
calling him ''one of my boys." Mr. Carleton 
in his response referred to Hillsdale College and 
to President Dunn, saying he knew ''no one 
more fitted to fill a president's chair." "Ida 
Hazelton" in reporting the sessions for a Boston 
paper said: "Dr. Dunn's lectureship at Old 
Orchard is as popular as ever, his words as 
eagerly listened to on every topic as in former 
years. At the close of each lecture questions 
come from all sides and we learn what a remark- 
ably ready man he is on almost every subject. 
' I don't know ' or ' I can't answer ' are words 
which to him must be contained in a foreign lan- 
guage." 

With the autumn he again resumed the duties 
of president, but his wife used to write to the 
daughters it was "too much care for him, he 
could not stand it long." When friends wrote of 
their gratification at his remaining in the position 
he would reply modestly that he felt his lack of 
qualifications for the office and also dreaded the 

208 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

probable effect of the nervous strain. But the 
large attendance during these two years and ex- 
cellent work of the school should have been a 
source of satisfaction to him as well as to his 
friends. And the financial aid he was able to 
render was a great encouragement to the trus- 
tees. It had been his privilege to secure over 
fifty thousand dollars of the previous endowment. 
This year the treasurer reported *' the gift of 480 
acres of land worth eight thousand dollars, with 
four hundred dollars in cash from Rev. S. F. 
Smith of Nebraska, a gift of one thousand dol- 
lars from Mr. DeWolf of Illinois, five hundred 
dollars from Chagrin Falls church and two hun- 
dred dollars from C. D. Roys, all obtained 
through President Dunn," thus making over ten 
thousand dollars which he added that year to the 
permanent endowment. Rev. Mr. Smith and 
wife were converted under the preaching of Elder 
Dunn in Ohio, and had always been dear friends 
of his, and helpers in denominational enterprises, 
and were anxious to devote their income to the 
cause of Christian education. This gift made 
possible the Smith professorship of metaphysics 
in the theological department. 

209 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

A typical vacation followed this year of hard 
work ; it included a series of lectures in a minis- 
terial institute at Lincoln, the dedication of 
churches at Long Pine, Neb., and Cuba and 
Blocker, Kansas, a quarterly meeting one Sab- 
bath, an ordination the next, all during a season 
of extremely hot weather. At the institute he 
delivered fourteen lectures, on the Divine gov- 
ernment, on human nature and depravity, and on 
personal qualifications and duties of ministers. 
A letter from the State evangelist of Nebraska 
thus expressed the appreciation of his services 
during this month : 'M cannot speak in too high 
terms of the excellent services rendered by our 
beloved friend. Dr. Dunn, in his able and in- 
structive lectures. All unite in expressing grati- 
tude for so pleasant and profitable a treat, one 
not often enjoyed by us frontier ministerial 
tramps. But we know how to appreciate such 
masterly productions, and no one knows better 
how to deliver them than he, although it seemed 
sometimes the intensity of the heat would over- 
come him. Conference voted him a small sum 
for his services which would no more than pay 

210 



COLLEGE PRESIDENCIES 

his traveling expenses, all of which he gener- 
ously donated toward the completion of the 
church." 

In the fall he was back in the college, and in 
his old place in the professor's chair, where he 
felt more at home. A new president had been 
found in the person of Hon. Geo. F. Mosher, a 
former editor of The Morning Star, and United 
States consul to France and Germany, a cultured 
Christian gentleman. His wife is a daughter of 
Rev. I. D. Stewart. Rev. C. D. Dudley, who 
had been elected to the Burr Professorship on the 
retirement of Professor Dunn, had died in the 
summer of 1886, and Professor Dunn was at 
once asked to again take the position. 



211 



X 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR — THE WINTER IN 
CALIFORNIA — ALONE 

The year 1886 saw a great temperance agita- 
tion in Michigan on the question of constitutional 
amendment. Professor Dunn was called repeat- 
edly to speak, and his clear and able addresses 
were well received. But his time was largely 
given to his teaching in the theological depart- 
ment, the work which he had come to feel was a 
God-given and important one — to help to fit 
young men to preach the everlasting Gospel. His 
method of teaching was the lecture system. He 
did not write out his lectures in full and dictate 
them to the students, but gave them from full 
outlines which he expected the students to take 
down in their note-books, and also as many of the 
illustrations as possible. It must not be inferred 
that because he lectured on the same subjects in 
successive years and did not write the lectures in 
212 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

full, that he did not spend much time in study 
and preparation. The course of lectures was 
practically prepared fresh each year, for he looked 
over his own notes, read all books available on 
the subjects discussed, kept up with current 
thought in religious papers and magazines, and 
was constantly studying how he might best pre- 
sent the truths of God and the duties of the min- 
istry in the light of the revealed Word and the 
needs of the world. 

His unfailing source of inspiration was the 
Bible. Every argument advanced was proved by 
reference to Scripture, and the students were 
expected to verify all these passages and proofs. 
He prepared as carefully for a class in pastoral 
theology or homiletics as for a large audience in a 
public service, and some of his lectures on sys- 
tematic theology were given with a vigor and 
earnestness and depth of feeling that thrilled 
those who heard them. 

A student who took his theological course at 
Hillsdale says of Professor Dunn : ** The secret 
of his wonderful success with young men was his 
full trust in God, and that God had called these 
young men to preach the Word, and he had been 

213 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

given the blessed privilege of training them for 
their great calling. He was a man of strong con- 
victions, with a childlike faith — unbounded 
faith — in God's Word. Never did a student go 
out of Dr. Dunn's classes with a doubt as to the 
Word of God." Another wrote to Professor 
Dunn : ** After studying under you for a time the 
truth seemed to be priceless, and obedience to it 
the one thing desirable." His suggestions in 
regard to methods of study and plans for work 
were sensible and practical. One who was in 
his class for a time tells how Professor Dunn's 
words made him a student, when he said one 
day: " Young gentlemen, you study sixteen hours 
to do the work of four, because your minds are 
not disciplined and your habits formed to study." 
This young man determined to see if this were 
so, and he formed the habits of concentration of 
thought and close attention, which were a life- 
long benefit, helping him at all times to do his 
best. 

But it was the personal magnetism of the man 
himself and the example of his daily life that 
most impressed his students. A minister wrote 
of his old teacher and friend: *M remember one 

2U 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

day he came into the class-room straight from his 
closet, with his face shining and his eyes wet with 
tears, and said, ' I have no lesson to teach you 
to-day save the lesson of the cross of Christ,' 
and then he held up Christ until our hearts melted 
within us and we made new resolutions to devote 
our lives to Him." It was this vision of the 
Christ reflected in the face of their beloved 
teacher that sent young men and women out 
into devoted service. 

A volume could be filled with testimonies to 
this fact, such as this from Rev. F. L. Hayes: 
'' Mine was one of the many inspired by his in- 
struction and helpfully influenced by his magnetic 
example." Or this from Rev. G. R. Holt: '' My 
most helpful memories of college are of my es- 
teemed, revered, and much loved teacher and 
friend, Professor Dunn, who put his whole soul 
into helping his pupils to be patient, persevering, 
sympathetic, diligent, orderly, kind, and cheerful, 
and to have in store a fund of common sense for 
life's work. During all these years this influ- 
ence has been more valuable to me than could 
wealth, honor, or even health, as it aided so ma- 
terially in my efforts to be Christlike." The 

215 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

feeling of his students for their teacher is tersely 
put by one who is now pastor of an important 
city church : ** 1 was impressed, as all his students 
were, with his keen insight into religious truth, 
his interest in his students, and most of all with 
'his own vigorous religious life, and my own life 
has been enriched by his teaching and example." 
The year passed rapidly, filled with service for 
the college and numerous other demands, and the 
spring found him with frequent attacks of nervous 
prostration, which Mrs. Dunn called ** sinking 
spells." But the vacation trip to the New Eng- 
land mountains and the sea gave the needed 
stimulus for another year's work. During this 
year he secured another endowment fund for the 
college from an old friend in Illinois, Mrs. Mary P. 
DeWolf . She can best tell how it was herself : 
''After my husband's death I wrote to Professor 
Dunn asking him where I could place money 
where it would do the most good in our denomina- 
tion, as I had some to spare and I wanted it to do 
good somewhere. Professor Dunn came to see 
me and talked over the matter, and suggested 
that I give fifteen thousand dollars toward a De- 
Wolf Theological Professorship. My husband 

216 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

had given one thousand dollars, and I added to this 
amount enough to make up the fifteen thousand 
dollars. Then I requested that Professor Dunn 
have the income from the fund to pay him for 
teaching in the college, as long as he was able to 
work. After this I gave one thousand dollars to 
help educate men for the Gospel ministry, and 
one thousand dollars for the Dunn Professorship." 
Thus was established in 1888 the '' DeWolf Pro- 
fessorship of Homiletics," which was the last 
chair occupied by Professor Dunn. One who had 
known him for many years said at this time, ** I 
think every year will be the last, but he seems 
to be doing his work as well as ever, and raising 
more money than others." 

As a delegate to the General Baptist Associa- 
tion he went to Missouri, in October, 1888, and 
visited some of their churches by request. He 
wrote home that in some places he realized that 
he was **down South, by the houses, customs, 
and cooking," and he found "too little education 
and too much malaria." He passed through the 
region of the iron and lead mines, which he stud- 
ied with interest. Thanksgiving Day brought 
him a shock in the news of the sudden death of 

217 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

his brother Lewis, at Pella, Iowa, who at the close 
of the family dinner had fallen by the side of his 
son-in-law, a physician. The son and daughter 
took the body to Vermont to place it at the old 
home, where two children were buried. The 
town of Fairfax turned out en mmse to meet them, 
for they loved him as a father, and from surround- 
ing towns came many friends. Professor Dunn 
met the funeral party as they went through Hills- 
dale, and accompanied them to Vermont. '' This 
leaves me," said he, "the last one of eleven 
children." 

After holidays he and his wife spent some time 
in Florida. They first visited Jacksonville, where 
he found ''half the population of 35,000 and 
three-fourths of the Christians of the city were 
colored." He attended service in a colored 
Baptist church whose membership was 1200. 

Friends here and at St. Augustine were glad to 
see him, and the climate was very agreeable. A 
painful eczema of the hands, which for years had 
been a constant source of pain and annoyance, 
disappeared entirely, and Mrs. Dunn had none of 
the rheumatism which had recently annoyed her. 
He wrote to a daughter, " Your mother is almost 

218 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

girlish ; I haven't seen her so lively for years." 
The oranges were delicious, and his wife thought 
he would succumb to the temptation to buy an 
orange grove. But he had promised to visit the 
Southern Free Baptists of Georgia and Alabama, 
and so left the land of oranges and fragrant jessa- 
mine in March. 

** A delay of thirty hours in a fifth-rate tavern 
in the mud upon the banks of the Chattahoochee 
river, waiting for a boat, the leaving of the boat 
in the rain in the early morning, and spending 
the forenoon in an old warehouse three miles from 
anywhere, waiting until two o'clock for breakfast, 
furnished a preface to our brief work in the State 
of Georgia. Though forty miles above the 
Florida line we are still upon the sand, which is 
sold for ^i.oo an acre with the pines uncleared, 
and where they raise from ten to twenty-five 
bushels of corn to the acre, and one bale of cot- 
ton on six acres. The people are poor ; they live 
in * mighty ' poor houses, but are hospitable and 
do everything * right smart ' ; some of them do 
seem 'mighty' ignorant; but they are good- 
hearted and seemingly without prejudice towards 
a Northern man, and show all the interest in his 

219 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

preaching that could be asked. If I were young 
I could get a mule and ride over the country, as I 
did in Ohio, with good heart and faith." 

He was glad to find little race bitterness, but 
sorry to see the undiminished race distinctions. 
There were signs of improvement, but much need 
of help in homes and schools and habits of life. 
The modes of living and cooking were such that 
he soon became ill, and the weather was cold 
and rainy, so the return trip home was has- 
tened, concluding that his "wife was right, as 
usual," and that he was '* too old to do mission- 
ary work in the South." 

When they reached home they found several 
old residents had died during their absence, and 
letters told of the death of an old friend, Mrs. 
Daniel Branch, a former teacher in Geauga Sem- 
inary, whom Professor Dunn always said was 
''one of the best of women." And the sudden 
death of Rev. D. H. Lord, a former resident of 
Hillsdale, and father of Rev. R. D.Lord of Brook- 
lyn, brought sadness to many hearts. The fu- 
neral was held at the home of Dr. Dunn, which 
was always open for old neighbors whose friends 
wished to have them rest in the Hillsdale ceme- 
tery. 

220 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

When asked what were his plans for the next 
summer vacation he replied : ** About as usual — 
the last Sabbath of July a dedication in Illinois, 
the first Sabbath of August another dedication, 
and another the second Sabbath ; at Keuka Lake 
Assembly the next^ and Iowa Yearly Meeting the 
last. There is also an invitation for a Baptist 
Association in Illinois the first Sabbath of Sep- 
tember." The General Conference of 1889 was 
held at Harper's Ferry, and Dr. and Mrs. Dunn 
attended. It was his duty as chairman of the 
committee on the ministry to read the obituary 
list. It was a long one that year, nearly eighty 
who had passed away during the three years. It 
affected him much, for with most of them he 
was personally acquainted and some were his 
intimate friends, and among these were many 
who had labored with him in his early days. 
Some of the delegates took a trip to Gettysburg 
and rode over the battlefield with its many monu- 
ments, a visit always held in pleasant memory by 
Mr. and Mrs. Dunn. The summer trip of 1890 
brought them to Boston at the time of the G. A. 
R. Encampment, when **a procession of forty 
thousand men and over one hundred and fifty 
221 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

thousand visitors crowded the city." It reminded 
him of the visit of the Prince of Wales, while he 
was pastor in Boston, when the whole city and 
vicinity turned out to do honor to the future king 
of England, the present King Edward. 

The constant calls for a volume which should 
include some of Dr. Dunn's theological lectures 
were at last heeded, and he gave all the time he 
could spare from regular work during the winter 
of 1889-90 to the preparation of a series of lec- 
tures on systematic theology. The Morning Star 
Publishing House had proposed to issue another 
edition of Professor Butler's ''Theology," and it 
was decided to combine the two in one and make 
it a standard work in theology. Dr. Dunn en- 
gaged a stenographer to whom he could dictate 
and who would prepare type-written copy. In 
the spring the manuscript went to the publisher. 
The work is a large volume of 467 pages, with 
nine chapters, treating of the nature and attrib- 
utes of God, the necessity and authority of 
Scripture revelation, man's origin and destiny. 
Divine government, sin and atonement, repent- 
ance, faith and regeneration, of the church and 
its institutions, of resurrection and the future 
222 




The Study Window. 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

state. While of practical use to ministers and 
teachers it is of equal interest to the general 
reader and individual Bible student. Professor 
Dunn had another volume almost ready for the 
printer, on *' Practical Theology," which would be 
of great value to Christian workers. 

After the completion of the ** Systematic The- 
ology " a summer trip to Vermont and Maine gave 
the needed rest. But Dr. Butler had taken a 
longer rest in a more beautiful country, having 
been suddenly called home in June. It was with 
a strange presentiment that Mrs. Dunn wrote to 
one of her daughters soon after: 'M am afraid 
your father will go just as Professor Butler did." 
But that end was not yet. He was still able to 
preach, for he wrote to a friend, '' I rode in mud 
and rain twenty miles in a buggy and preached 
twice yesterday and am quite comfortable to- 
day." The summer that he was seventy-five 
years old he had another of his characteristic 
vacations, of which this was a specimen week : 
''Preached at Jackson on Sunday, attended a 
funeral at Allen Tuesday, and another in Hills- 
dale the next day, and have an appointment at 
Pittsford to-morrow." 

223 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

He was still raising endowment for the college, 
too, as the following letter from Hon. J. S. Hart 
will show: 'Mn June, 1891, Dr. Dunn was at 
our home in Racine and seemed intensely inter- 
ested in the college and could see a bright future 
for it if properly endowed. I then gave him my 
note for fifteen thousand dollars, which with in- 
terest to Jan. 17, 1895, amounted to ^17,631.06. 
I speak of this because I think of him as a suc- 
cessful worker not only in the chair he occupied 
but in raising funds for the college, and to me he 
has been so inseparably a part of the college and 
the father of it that it would be a hardship if he 
should be obliged to retire on account of age or 
health. It seems to me the college will not be 
Hillsdale College without him. I attended his 
church in the forties, and after I came West he 
came to our home in Wisconsin in 1854, and 1 
gave him a note to aid in the endowment. I used 
to go out from Cambridge to Boston to hear him 
preach, and the house was sometimes so packed 
that I with the young men I induced to go with 
me were obliged to stand during the service. One 
of the elders of the Presbyterian church of Ra- 

224 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

cine told me he never listened to such preaching 
as the forty consecutive sermons from him in 
the Presbyterian pulpit/' 

An interesting event of 1892 was the centen- 
nial of the New Hampshire Yearly Meeting at 
New Durham in June. A large tent was set up 
near the church, with seating capacity of fifteen 
hundred people to accommodate the large num- 
ber who attended. Several times it was crowded 
to its utmost capacity. One of these occasions 
was when Prof. Ransom Dunn, D. D., Dean of 
Theology at Hillsdale College, preached the cen- 
tennial sermon. The report says : " There were 
many evidences of suppressed emotion on the 
part of that vast audience, as this venerable edu- 
cator, whose name is a household word among all 
our Israel, came to the front. He announced his 
text Jude 3 : ' Beloved, when I gave all diligence 
to write unto you of the common salvation it was 
needful for me to write unto you and exhort you 
that you should earnestly contend for the faith 
which was once delivered unto the saints.' The 
treatment, the style, the enthusiasm, were char- 
acteristic of the man and worthy of the occasion." 

225 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Another old friend was called away in 1893. 
Rev. J. S. Manning went South to visit his old 
friends, was taken sick and died at Cairo, 111. 
He was teacher, pastor, and friend to the colored 
people, and Dr. Dunn said, *' A better man I 
never knew." He little thought when he first 
found him teaching district school in Ohio and led 
him to Christ he was leading to light so many 
darkened lives. 



The year 1893 brought two shadows to the 
home of Dr. Dunn. One was the departure of 
his youngest daughter for a foreign field. For 
several years she had been a National Secretary 
for the Young Women's Christian Association, 
and her frequent visits home had been the 
watched-for event of the quiet life of the father 
and mother in Hillsdale. This summer she 
married Rev. Walter J. Clark, like herself a 
student volunteer, and they were assigned to the 
Ludhiana Mission in India. This took the last of 
the daughters from the home, for the other two 
had been married for some years, and one lived 
in Nebraska and the other in Pennsylvania. To 
the affectionate father and mother this parting 

226 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

was doubly hard, for at their age they felt it was 
not likely they should see her again. And it was 
true that never again would all be together in the 
home. But it was not the frail-looking father but 
the brave, hard-working mother who was first to 
be called. An attack of congestion of the lungs, 
followed by repeated attacks of la grippe and 
rheumatism, made an invalid of the one who had 
always cared for him and the children and friends 
as if there was no end to her strength or willing- 
ness to serve. 

She rallied from the first attack, and with care 
was about the house as cheerful as ever, but 
went out little. Her husband gave up attendance 
upon the anniversaries of the denominational 
societies on her account, but continued his work 
in and near the college. A State Sunday-School 
Convention with one thousand delegates enter- 
tained at the college gave them and all good 
friends a busy week. Leave of absence of the 
president placed extra classes in charge of Pro- 
fessor Dunn, and special evangelistic meetings 
had his help. With warmer weather his wife's 
health was better and he answered some of the 
numerous calls — a dedication in Kansas, a supply 

227 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

in Minneapolis for a sick pastor, Rev. F. L. Hayes, 
and other engagements. At the close of the col- 
lege year, June, 1894, he wrote: ** For the last 
six weeks I have averaged three hundred miles 
a week and more than two sermons a Sabbath. 
Last Sabbath I spent in Canada, next Sabbath 
I have an appointment in Reading, and the fol- 
lowing week an ordination north of Lansing.'* 

The next winter Mrs. Dunn again suffered 
from la grippe and its consequences, and in March 
wrote lovingly of her husband's devotion: " He 
hasn't left me a single night for four months, and 
he watches the furnace constantly. I think this 
is the last winter we will spend in Hillsdale." 
During this year a grandson. Laurel Wayland 
Slayton, was with them attending school at the 
college, and was a great comfort and help. They 
were always deeply interested in the welfare of 
their grandchildren, who in turn were devoted in 
their affection for them. Again with the lovely 
spring weather came better health and she was 
able to attend a reception given by the theological 
students for Professor Dunn and Professor Copp 
at the home of the latter, who with failing health 
was bravely trying to keep on his work, as had 

228 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

Professor Fowler, to the last. She was able, 
too, at Commencement time to attend the Alumni 
reunion and meet old friends, who saw her more 
pale and thin than ever before and with traces of 
age and sickness, but yet bright and cheery as of 
old. Professor Dunn said : " \ am well, of 
course, for I have attended seven funerals in 
three weeks and a wedding, with my daily class 
work and supplying regularly the Baptist pulpit 
in the city. These seven funerals were all of 
persons over seventy, and the oldest was Mr. 
Ford's eldest sister, ninety years old, and I at- 
tended the funeral of her father and mother 
nearly forty years ago. I must be getting old 
myself." 

The plan for a winter in California was ar- 
ranged, and the first of September Professor and 
Mrs. Dunn left on what he laughingly called their 
*' honeymoon." He said they never had had 
time for it before, and now they proposed to 
enjoy it. But it was evident to the loving neigh- 
bors that while they had had many pleasant trips 
together for visits or work, this was differertt. 
This was a search for something that might 
never be found — health and strength and free- 

229 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

dom from pain and from lameness that was be- 
coming almost helplessness. It reminded some 
of the agonizing search for health for the son who 
tried every climate and remedy suggested by a 
distressed father only to find home best, and 
waited for the summons to the home where pain 
and weakness are unknown. To her as to him 
was coming the hard lesson to learn that " they 
also serve who only stand and wait." But it 
was indeed a honeymoon if loving tenderness 
could make it so. A friend wrote after his 
death : " What a tender side he had to his 
nature. Somehow it is only in these later years 
we have realized it, though you children must 
have always known and felt it. He was to the 
last as gallant and attentive to his wife as a 
young husband." 

On the way they stopped over Sunday at Salt 
Lake City, and heard an eloquent address by the 
representative in Congress, the Mormon vice- 
president. They rested in .Sacramento and then 
went to Los Angeles, where they visited friends 
and looked for a winter home. A visit to friends 
at Pasadena and Lamanda decided them to re- 
main for a time at the Lamanda Park Sanitarium 

230 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

in charge of Dr. C. L. King, formerly of Hillsdale, 
whose family had been friends of Professor Dunn 
for years. This is the way he describes the 
place : '* A more beautiful view I never saw than 
this vast field of highly cultivated groves of fruit 
and gardens in the San Gabriel valley of twenty 
miles. Beyond are the grand mountains, and in 
the other direction Pasadena, a city of 12,000, 
five miles below." His wife, too, loved the 
mountain view. '' From the porch where I take 
my walk every morning they say we can see 
seventy miles. I never get tired of the view.'* 
A later letter says : '* We are still here, with six 
thousand feet of mountain elevation back of us, 
200,000 acres of fields before us, with plenty of 
fruit to eat, and with good company. But there 
is one lack. This sanitarium was built for 
beauty and for body. There is no church within 
three miles, nor people enough for a congregation 
if they wanted one. The dozen families upon 
these foot hills and ranches are richer in houses 
and groves than in faith." 

Dr. King tells how Professor Dunn met this 
lack and supplied the need. '' He gave us a 
service Sunday evenings. We had at the time 

231 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

some guests of unusual musical talent, and we 
had a service well worthy of a much larger 
audience than we could muster from our house 
and the neighbors. It would be a delight to all of 
Dr. Dunn's old friends and admirers to know of 
the keen appreciation that our guests and neigh- 
bors expressed of these services. Most of our 
guests at that time were people of refinement and 
education, so it was a satisfaction to us to have 
them feel that Dr. Dunn's sermons were one of 
the great opportunities of their lives. A number 
of them took profuse notes, so as to make the 
sermons a part of their own store of knowledge. 
I particularly remember one sermon in which he 
told us of the knowledge we had of * God in 
nature ' apart and separate from the revelation 
of him found in the Bible. It certainly was as 
strong an argument as I ever heard, and many 
others expressed themselves in the same lan- 
guage." But it was not only in these public 
services that his influence was felt while at the 
sanitarium, for the doctor says : 'Mf Professor 
Dunn ever had a gift it was as a conversation- 
alist, and the happy hours he furnished to our 
guests and ourselves when the household was 

232 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

gathered in the parlors in the evening will be 
long remembered. Both Professor Dunn and his 
wife did all in their power to make the stay of 
the other guests pleasant. One of the touching 
things in the life they lived here was the kind, 
loving, solicitous care they had for each other. 
Their lives had an influence upon every one in 
the house. It was a living sermon. It made one 
feel there was much in life worth living for other 
than this constant struggle for money and posi- 
tion. We had at the house at that time a poor 
motherless Norwegian boy from Massachusetts, 
who had tuberculosis and was constantly losing 
ground. Professor Dunn took great interest in 
him, and it was one of his chief pleasures to feel 
that he led this boy to Christ before he died. So 
you see that, while resting even, he was busy 
about his Father's business." 

He went to church one Sunday at Monrovia, 
seven miles from the sanitarium, and an old 
friend saw him and asked for an appointment for 
another service, and he spoke to a full house. 
He attended a Methodist Episcopal Conference, 
the Congregational State Convention, and the 
Baptist Association of the southern half of the 

233 



CONSECRATED LIFE 

State. The cessation from care and nervous ex- 
citement proved to be a great benefit to him, for 
he was able to sleep and eat as he had not done 
for years, and even gained in weight. He 
wrote : " The affairs of church and college and 
the world at large look less blue in this mountain 
atmosphere, with frostless nights and cloudless 
days. And in spite of the absence from home 
and its associations we enjoy the climate and 
country and each other's society, and find quite a 
number of old friends in the State." 

They visited San Diego and were guests of 
Judge M. A. Luce, the leading lawyer of that 
section, an intimate friend of Ransom and Way- 
land when a student in Hillsdale. A letter from 
this place in December has this to say : ** As the 
* better half ' improves in general health her former 
interest in sight-seeing and culture by travel in- 
creases. And here is one of the largest hotels in 
the world, ' Coronado,' covering four acres, with 
rooms for one thousand guests, with parks and 
flowers indescribable. Our excursion party of 
two yesterday took a ten-mile car ride and had a 
view of the Grant mansions, where two sons of 
General Grant live, the University Heights, and 

234 




In California. 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

the old missionary valley of San Diego river, the 
Spanish missionary field of two hundred and fifty 
years ago, a very interesting place. We are en- 
joying nice green peas and strawberries. This 
climate seems like Rome or Naples, almost like 
Egypt, and your mother is well satisfied, her 
general health seems almost perfect, but I am 
sorry to say the lameness of the back still con- 
tinues. As I am lazy and she is lame, and ' the 
lame and the lazy must be fed,' we are getting 
along very well, and if the girls were near we 
could be quite contented. But we expect to go 
back to Los Angeles, where friends have made 
arrangements for us, and where we can visit the 
sanitarium occasionally, fourteen miles away, for 
the baths and electrical treatment." 

Later they went to Elsinore, being strongly 
advised to try the hot sulphur springs there, but 
finding no great gain they returned to Lamanda 
Park, where the care of the doctor and nurses 
seemed to give some relief to the rheumatic diffi- 
culty. The sea breeze had not seemed to agree 
with her as well as the mountain air. She was 
still hopeful and cheerful, though her husband 
was losing hope of recovery. They decided to 

235 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

take the southern route home in the spring, visit- 
ing friends in Texas. " She would rather see 
her children than all the beauties of Nature," 
says her husband, ** but still she enjoys the trip 
with too much spirit and zest to admit of old age 
yet." In her last letters are such expressions as 
these: "Don't think, my dear, you are getting 
all the good out of life now, for you may not only 
enjoy the present active life but when you are 
old still find life full of blessings and worth living. 
Papa and I enjoy life together as well as we ever 
did. The only thing that troubles me is that I 
can do so little for other people, and of course he 
would like to preach more. The doctor says he 
will live ten years longer for coming out here. I 
suppose you think it strange that if I like it here 
1 want to go back, but home is home, and I want 
to be there." 

In March they took their last view of California 
friends and scenery and went to Texas, where 
climate and fruit and friends were enjoyed for a 
short time, but excessive rains made a damp at- 
mosphere that was not so agreeable, and they 
hastened to Nebraska to visit the daughter, and 
then home to receive the warm greetings of old 

236 



friends on College Hill. The fatigue of the 
journey and change of climate were felt, but the 
last letter written by Mrs. Dunn, May lo, 1896, 
was cheerful : " The weather is warm, every- 
body seems glad to see us, and we are glad to be 
home." But it was not for long. On the 20th 
of May telegrams went east and west, *' Mother 
is dead." A sudden pain, a loving look, a hand 
pressure, and the heart ceased beating — she was 
gone where pain is no more. And the heart- 
broken husband was alone. The daughters 
hurried to his side, and together they looked on 
the peaceful face and thought of 

" A life made beautiful by kindly deeds ; 
A generous heart and hand to sorrow's needs ; 
A smile that chastened grief by its warm glow ; 
A tear not for its own, but others' woe ; 
A presence making sunshine where she trod, 
Glad with the happy, reverent love toward God ; 
Such her we mourn, whose memory like a flower 
Gathers new fragrance with each passing hour." 

The funeral was held in the church where she 
had been for so many years a faithful member. 
President Mosher, Professor Salley, Professor 
Reed, and Mrs. Copp taking part in the exer- 
cises. By request of Professor Dunn the old 

237 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

hymn, " Sister, thou wast mild and lovely," was 
sung at the grave. Many were the prayers 
offered for the youngest daughter in India, whose 
weekly letters to the mother would continue to 
come for a month before she would know that 
that mother was beyond the reach of letters. 
But, as one friend said, ''heaven is as near to 
India as America." 

It will not be out of place here to add a few 
tributes to the helpfulness of the character of 
Mrs. Dunn, taken from many received from old 
students and friends. A student in the 70's 
says: *' My first invitation to Professor Dunn's 
home was in vacation, when as one of the home- 
less students I remained in Hillsdale. It was of 
such students they were especially thoughtful. 
I say 'they,' for it is impossible to think of 
Professor Dunn without also recalling the wife 
who was indeed a true helpmate to her husband, 
ably seconding all his efforts to upbuild the 
college, and whose heart was always open to 
befriend those who in any way seemed to need a 
kind word or act of sympathy or encouragement. 
Later I became an inmate of their home, and 
over three years of my college life were passed 

238 



TEACHER, PREACHER, AUTHOR 

beneath their roof, and whatever of good there 
may be in my character is due to the influences 
of that happy home life more than to any other 
factor during those years in Hillsdale. One 
could not sit at their table, join in the family 
\/orship, and in many ways observe the thought- 
fulness of each for the other, for their children, 
and for the guests who were constantly coming 
and going, without realizing that this was an 
ideal Christian home." Another who knew Pro- 
fessor Dunn and his family in Nebraska and in 
Hillsdale said : " I can never forget Mrs. Dunn. 
She was very kind to me. And she did a great 
deal to make Dr. Dunn what he was. Blessed 
be both their memories." 

We cannot forbear to add those touchingly 
beautiful lines from the pen of Margaret Sangster, 
so appropriate to the comforting, helping life and 
hands of this good wife and mother. 

FOLDED HANDS. 
Pale, withered hands that more than fourscore years 
Had wrought for others, soothed the hurt of tears, 
Rocked children's cradles, eased the fever's smart, 
Dropped balm of love in many an aching heart. 
Now stirless folded, like wan rose-leaves pressed 
Above the snow and silence of her breast ; 
239 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

In mute appeal they tell of labor done 

And well-earned rest that came at set of sun. 

From the worn brow the lines of care are swept 

As if an angel's kiss the while she slept 

Had smoothed the cobweb wrinkles quite away, 

And given back the peace of childhood's day. 

And on her lips a smile as if she said, 

*' None knows life's secret but the happy dead." 

So gazing where she lies, we know that pain 

And parting cannot cleave her soul again, 

And we are sure that those who saw her last 

\n that dim vista which we call the past. 

Who never knew her old and weary-eyed. 

Remembering best the maiden and the bride. 

Have sprung to greet her with the olden speech, 

The dear, sweet names no later love can teach, 

And " Welcome home ! " they cried, and grasped her 

hands ; 
So dwells the mother in the best of lands. 



240 



XI 

LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE — EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY 

While the loneliness and grief seemed at times 
to overwhelm him, yet the strength of body 
gained during the winter's rest made him able 
to work, and to keep occupied was the best 
thing to do under the circumstances. So he tried 
to fill all of his appointments. 

He was invited by President Mosher to deliver 
the baccalaureate address, and gratefully ac- 
knowledged that he had no recollection of ever 
receiving more kind words with reference to any 
sermon. The text was Acts 17 : 28, '* In Him we 
live," and the argument showed that man as an 
individual and in family, state, church, and Chris- 
tian enterprises did live in a living God, and only 
by so doing could nation, church, or college be 
successful. 

When summer vacation came he sought relief 
from the ever-present sorrow by travel, visiting 
the scenes of his childhood and the few remaining 

241 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

relatives in New England. He sadly writes: 
''The relief from mental gloom anticipated by 
others on my behalf is not realized. I ought to 
have known, and did know, that material condi- 
tions cannot relieve the demands of head and 
heart." 

He preached one Sabbath at Enosburgh Falls, 
where, as a young man, he had done his first 
preaching, but said that he felt that ''the de- 
parture of Brother Montague [the brother-in-law 
who had been instrumental in leading him to 
Christ and who was always one of his best 
friends] leaves that whole region a kind of 
vacuum." 

Going from Vermont to Maine he found the 
only brother of Mrs. Dunn quite broken down, 
and felt it was their last visit, and it was indeed 
true, for soon he followed his sister to the glory 
land. 

He spoke one Sunday in Great Falls, where 
the few old friends were glad to see him and 
many others eager to have a chance to hear him. 

In Boston he met a nephew, Rev. A. T. Dunn, 
and with him attended the Northfield Conference 
in August. 

242 



LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE 

A brief visit with his daughter in Scranton, 
and with his old friend, Rev. Schuyler Aldrich, 
and his former pupil, Rev. J. W. Parsons, in 
Buffalo, and then he went back to ''what was 
my home." 

Frequent letters from his children and friends 
became one of his chief comforts. He said, 
" The world is still sunless and these letters are 
the stars of these long nights." But he felt that 
'* as the loss becomes a fact of memory the light 
of the background will increase in beauty and 
comfort." And so it was. To the day of his 
death he never ceased to feel the loss of his wife 
and to mourn her departure. When other loved 
ones had been taken from him in his earlier days 
he had much left of life, and strength for work, 
and hope and courage ; now he felt there was 
not the life of service, nor other new companion- 
ships before him. But as months and years 
went by the memories of the past and blessed 
hopes of the future lessened the gloom of the 
present. 

And he never allowed his feelings to cloud the 
lives of others, but was always cheerful as well 
as resigned. He could '' see more and more rea- 

243 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

sons for gratitude in the leadings of Providence 
in the past, for friends left, for health that allows 
of some work still in the college, and for pleasant 
surroundings." 

A touching letter was received from him in 
October of this year, containing these words: 
** The wonderful beauty of these maples, remind- 
ing me of my childhood home and the experi- 
ences of the past, produces a strange mingling of 
joy and grief. The most affecting and interest- 
ing experiences of my life have occurred in the 
fall. I was converted in the fall of 1831, bap- 
tized and united with the church in the fall of 
1834, commenced in the ministry a year later and 
ordained in the autumn. Buried my father in 
October, 1835, ^^^ "ly mother twenty years 
later. My most successful work has been in 
this season. Married both times in September. 
Buried one wife in August, and the funeral of 
the other continues into fall ! This is not the 
flower season but the harvest season, and always 
reminds me more distinctly of duty and heaven 
than the earlier seasons. Of course I cannot say 
this one is exactly a happy season, but I am able 
to say, 'My Lord, thy will be done,' and I can 

244 



LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE 

see many causes for thanksgiving, especially in 
the dear ones, though far away, and more par- 
ticularly for the grace and comfort from above." 

Constant work occupied mind and body, and 
relieved the tension of the feelings. Sunday ap- 
pointments and funerals in addition to class-room 
work kept him busy. He was invited to deliver 
the sermon at the union thanksgiving service; 
and to preach at the Hillsdale church during the 
absence of the pastor at the State Association. 
On this occasion he spoke on Paul's determina- 
tion (i Cor. 2: 2): *'I determined not to know 
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him 
crucified." Referring to it, he said: "I feel 
more and more that life is short, and I must not 
shun to declare the whole counsel of God. We 
get too little preaching nowadays on evangelical 
truths, and especially on the atonement." 

News was received from a relative in Vermont 
of the death of several of her family, leaving 
her almost alone, and he replied: "I know how 
to sympathize, having lost both parents, ten 
brothers and sisters, two wives, and five children. 
But God is good, and his tender mercies are over 
all." Referring to certain anniversaries in the 

245 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

families of his children he said: *' How many 
social and family interviews we have had ! 
When there is an interruption we must not forget 
the goodness of God in the past, and trials are 
but mercies in their disciplinary purposes, and 
not penalties, which do not come till after the 
judgment, nor even then — thank God! — if the 
blood of Christ is by faith accepted and trusted ! " 

As a new term opened he remarked: 'M am 
not sorry. I feel more natural in the class room 
than anywhere else. I have a call for an ordina- 
tion on one Sabbath and a dedication the next 
week, and if not too cold hope to attend both, 
but I am about through with that kind of work." 

The dedication was the church at Mayville, 
costing seven thousand dollars, and two thousand 
four hundred of this was raised at the time of 
the dedication, leaving the house free of debt. 
After the dedication sermon by Dr. Dunn several 
rose for prayer, and in the evening the number 
was increased to thirteen, and the work of grace 
started at this time continued during the winter. 

Thus the power of God was manifest still in 
the efforts of this man who had during so many 
years seen revivals follow his dedication of 

246 



LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE 

churches. Whenever he spoke on such an occa- 
sion it was, as in the days of Solomon, "the 
glory of the Lord filled the house." When he 
dedicated the church at Horton, Kansas, he used 
the verse just quoted as his text, and a business 
man, not a Christian, and an attendant of an- 
other church, who was present, said the very 
repetition of the text from such a man was suffi- 
cient dedication. If he said so he believed it; 
and the manner and force of delivery, as well as 
the grandeur of the theme, made him feel before 
it was over that the Lord himself said it too. He 
was among the first to come out in the revival 
that followed. 

Another dedication is thus reported by a lis- 
tener : "The text was, 'I will make the place 
of my feet glorious.' It seemed as if the lips of 
the preacher had been ' touched with a live coal 
from off the altar,' for not only did he tell us of 
the glory of the place but he took us within the 
sanctuary, and with hushed hearts we saw the 
glory, and we said with him, * Wondrous in 
power is God the Creator, infinite in tenderness 
is God the Father, terrible in majesty is God the 
Ruler, glorious in compassion is God the Saviour, 

247 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

but nearer, dearer to the heart of every child of 
sorrow is God the Comforter.' As we went 
away from that new temple, thus solemnly and 
beautifully consecrated, we thought, ' O that 
every watchman upon the walls of Zion could 
give to its golden trumpet such certain sounds.' " 
During the winter occurred the death of a 
neighbor, of whom he thus wrote: '* Deacon 
Dyer, with his burden of eighty years, and sev- 
enty-two of Christian experience, who was a 
special friend of mine for fifty-nine years, has 
retired from earth to heaven. His father. Rev. 
S. B. Dyer of New Hampshire, was one of the 
noble fathers of our denomination, baptized by 
Benjamin Randall. I can scarcely think of an- 
other man on earth with whom I have been as 
long acquainted as with Deacon Dyer." These 
departures of old friends always affected him 
deeply, for he was strongly attached to his 
friends, and in these later years the vacancies 
were keenly felt, and he said, "The field of 
friendship here is getting very narrow, but the 
field is wide and occupied beyond." He used to 
sometimes refer to O. W. Holmes's " Last Leaf," 
and perhaps others thought of it as they saw him 

248 



LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE 

on Sabbath afternoons slowly wending his way to 
the cemetery and wearily coming back to his 
lonely study. Friends feared these walks too 
much for the body, which they could see was 
more feeble, and also feared the effect on the 
mind of the constant recalling of past compan- 
ionships, but as long as he lived these sad pilgrim- 
ages continued to be a sort of comfort and sad 
pleasure to the lonely old man. On the way he 
would stop to call on old friends, especially those 
who were sick or shut in^ such as the widows of 
Jairus and Isaac Davis^ who had always a strong 
attachment for him and his family. 

The twentieth of each month was to him a 
memorial day when the darkness of that May 
day when the light of his life went out was lived 
over again, but he would say : '"Losses of even 
the richest earthly blessings cannot veil the face 
of God or shut the gate of heaven. Prayer and 
the presence of God were never sweeter." 

An unexpected family reunion occurred in the 
summer of 1897, when Mrs. Clark came from 
India on account of a serious affection of her little 
girl's eyes. While the reason for the journey 
was regretted, the opportunity for visit was 

249 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

gladly accepted, and Mrs. Slayton and Mrs. 
Gates met her with their father at the old home. 
While they missed the cheerful presence of the 
mother who always so enjoyed their former 
visits, they appreciated the visit with the father, 
for whom this might be the last family gathering. 
The brief summer passed all too quickly, and 
after visits with relatives and friends father and 
daughters stood on the deck of the small boat in 
New York harbor, in September, and watched 
the large vessel sail away, bearing the missionary 
daughter and her two little girls to their far- 
distant home. Too well we knew that for two 
of that party it was their last view of each other 
until the final reunion in the heavenly home, 
but bravely they faced the present and the 
future, and as they unclasped their hands we 
felt the Hand we could not see in sustaining 
power. 

In October the promised message came, telling 
of safe arrival in Bombay, and he passed it on to 
the sisters, saying : '' The earth for a time, after 
receiving that cablegram the same day it was 
written, seemed smaller than before. But when 

250 



< ? 

» « 

n 

1 D 

I— (B 

• c 




LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE 

I remembered that it would be four weeks before 
a letter could get here the horizon seemed as 
distant as ever." 

The Michigan State Association met in Grand 
Ledge that year, and Dr. Dunn attended and told 
a friend afterward : " Strange - enough, they 
elected me president, and stranger still by unani- 
mous vote elected me delegate to the General 
Conference again. Doubtful whether I can fill 
either place, but it is not unpleasant to receive 
such unexpected honors." Replying to expressed 
anxiety of friends in regard to his continued 
preaching he said, " I never preached easier in 
my life nor felt less anxiety respecting homiletical 
success or failure." He was not to be released 
from the use of his pen either, for the editor of 
The Morning Star wrote to him for several arti- 
cles on various subjects, with the remark that he 
was " not to stop writing while in the body." 

As the examinations for the college year ap- 
proached he said : '' The term and year will soon 
be past, and so will life itself. I have been 
wondering why this was not the time for me to 
die. But the Lord knoweth and doeth all things 
well. 1 am going to leave Hillsdale College; for 

251 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

what or where is not determined yet. A guiding 
Providence has always provided, and so I am 
simply waiting." The providential direction 
came in an unexpected way when a night of 
agony and days of continued suffering proved 
that a chronic difficulty of years' standing might 
be now more than an annoyance — might be a 
serious menace to life. Always sensitive to pain, 
and now too weak to endure much, he hastened 
to the home of his son-in-law, a physician in 
Scranton, hoping for operation or treatment to 
cure or relieve. Operation was not possible, 
treatment to be effective needed to be continued, 
and he was urged to remain. A few weeks of 
rest and care, however, gave such relief that he 
came back to Hillsdale for the final examinations 
and remained for Commencement. 

A great surprise came to him on Commence- 
ment Day when Professor Salley presented him 
with a beautiful gold-headed cane, a gift from 
faculty, students, and friends. With it came a 
booklet tied with college colors, embellished with 
forget-me-nots and this legend : ''All things pass 
away save love, the same forever and aye." 
This booklet had the names of the donors, none 

252 



LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE 

of whom had been allowed to give more than five 
cents, so that many might have the privilege of 
being contributors. It also contained a poem by 
Mrs. M. W. Chase : 

Far away across the ocean, 

In a castle near the sea, 
In a castle grown historic, 

Lived the man of destiny. 

Kings and queens their homage brought him, 

And a title sought to give. 
" Nay," quoth he, "I want no title, 

But give God's poor a chance to live." 

Titles such as kings could give him 

Could but mar his Maker's plan. 
And the name that best befits him 

Is the simple " Grand Old Man." 



Up and down our dusty highway 
Moves a man bent low with years ; 

His brow serene though deeply furrowed. 
His eyes grown dim with unshed tears. 

Day by day we see him toiling, 

Serving God as best he can. 
And our hearts proclaim with gladness. 

We too have our " Grand Old Man." 
253 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Aged brother, look above thee, 

There is peace beyond the stars, 
Where we'll find the lambs that wandered 

And slipped through between the bars. 

There earth's trials will be ended. 

And the real life begun; 
For Christ's love has paid the ransom, 

And he'll speak the words, *' Well done ! " 

At the close of Professor Salley's appropriate 
address came another surprise, when Mr. Wallace 
Heckman, one of the alumni trustees, stepped up 
and in beautiful words presented a volume of 
autograph letters from old friends. A letter had 
been sent to friends in the spring, reminding 
them of the fact that Dr. Dunn expected to close 
his active work in the college in June, thus com- 
pleting forty-five years of service, and that his 
eightieth birthday would occur in July, and sug- 
gesting the propriety of this birthday book of 
personal letters. This letter was sent by Presi- 
dent G. F. Mosher, Prof. A. D. Salley, and Prof. 
D. B. Reed, with this beautiful quotation from 
Longfellow : ''I shall pass through this world but 
once ; any good thing, therefore, that I can do or 
any kindness that I can show, let me do it now. 

254 



LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE 

Let me not defer it nor neglect it, for I shall not 
pass this way again." The letters were received 
by Mr. H. S. Myers, and fastened together in a 
book for presentation. The number was only 
limited by the time and the size of the book, but 
it had been the thought to include especially the 
friends of early days, those connected with the 
college, leading men of the denomination, and 
ministers who had studied theology with Professor 
Dunn, and to place the limit at one hundred and 
fifty letters. This kindly thought had been well 
carried out, and this book was one of the most 
priceless possessions of Dr. Dunn while he lived. 
He kept it carefully laid away, but often took it 
out to look over the letters from friends and recall 
the associations of the past. 

It would be interesting if we could publish 
many of these letters entire. The deep affection 
shown by men now prominent in various fields 
for the one who gave them in many cases their 
first uplift toward the better things of life, the 
profound respect for his learning, the admiration 
for his character, breathe through these leaves a 
delicate and lasting fragrance ; and the evident 
sincerity and genuineness of the regard shown 

255 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

gives added value to the beautiful thoughts ex- 
pressed. But the one word most often repeated 
is '' inspiration." If all the schools that Dr. 
Dunn helped to establish should perish, if all the 
churches he organized should be dissolved, if the 
denomination itself for which he labored so long 
should lose its identity, still his monument would 
remain in the lasting influence of his personality 
in individual lives. He was, as Mr. Heckman 
said, a '* dynamic generator " of all that was 
truest and noblest in life. Over and over again 
have come these words from lips and pen : 
" What I have been able to do in this world has 
been due to the influence of Professor Dunn's 
marvelous character, which was a perpetual in- 
spiration," as Prof. H. B. Larrabee, Dean of 
Keuka College, expresses it. The oft-used illus- 
tration of the ever-widening circles in the waves 
started by the falling body in the water, illustrat- 
ing the increasing spheres of influence from the 
individual life, comes to us as we read such letters 
as these : Prof. B. S. Hunting of Berea College : 
** The spirit of your work has been an inspiration 
to me for twenty-two years. If I have had any 
success as a director of youth, as a citizen or 

256 



LAST YEARS IN COLLEGE 

minister, I owe it to your inspiring example." 
Prof. A. E. Haynes of Minnesota University: "I 
want to express my gratitude for tlie blessed in- 
spiration your life has given me, with the assur- 
ance that you will ever hold in my heart a place 
of sacred remembrance." And if true of hun- 
dreds of teachers such as these, what of the 
hundreds of ministers, who, like Miss Moody, 
say, '' How helpful you have been to me, God 
only knows"? It is undoubtedly true that Ran- 
som Dunn is not silent to-day, but " is preaching 
in hundreds of pulpits where he has multiplied 
himself in the faithful and loyal preachers of the 
Gospel whorh he has taught and inspired." And 
from the varied walks of life, from professional 
and business offices, came these letters : '* You 
taught us how to think and showed us how to 
live." These appreciative letters may be epito- 
mized in this grateful tribute of Will Carleton : 
'' Rarely have four-fifths of a century been spent 
so well. Your life has been one of brilliant and 
substantial usefulness, and it is sincerely the 
wish of your thousands of friends that you still 
have years before you in which to reap the con- 
stantly ripening harvests of love that you have 
been sowing for so many years." 

257 



XII 

CLOSING DAYS 

The General Conference met at Ocean Park 
in August, 1898, and Dr. Dunn, with the family 
of his daughter, Mrs. Gates of Scranton, took a 
cottage there for the month. He had a hope that 
the sea-breezes might be a benefit to his failing 
health, and, while his physician could not antici- 
pate decidedly favorable results, the family were 
glad to arrange for this month's stay at the sea- 
shore. 

The meetings were enjoyed and also the view 
of old ocean, with its restless waves and rolling 
breakers, and the beauty and fragrance of the 
pine woods, and he appreciated the change and 
rest. Many old friends greeted him, and the 
younger people were glad to see him, and all 
would have been glad if health and strength 
would have allowed of his taking more active 
part in the exercises. One meeting was arranged 

258 



CLOSING DAYS 

for in which the older men of the denomination 
and those with experience in various parts of the 
country were to talk on " Life's Lessons." Dr. 
Dunn and Dr. Cheney were most gladly listened 
to on this occasion. 

A reception was given one afternoon for Mrs. 
M. M. H. Hills, and among the interesting 
speeches on this occasion was that of Dr. Dunn, 
who referred to his acquaintance with her through 
a long period, and his relations with her two hus- 
bands of early days, David Marks and Elias 
Hutchins, and to the changes since then. Mrs. 
Hills says she often has wished that she might 
have had that speech in writing. 

The days of the sea were not regretted, but 
they could not bring back the strength that was 
lost nor relieve from pain. The quiet of the 
doctor's house was perhaps the best place, and to 
it he returned. But as cold weather approached 
the restless spirit again sought a warmer climate 
and tried relief in Florida. His first view was 
beautiful. " I never saw a more brilliant sunrise 
than this morning," he wrote as he neared Jack- 
sonville. Kind friends met him here, and at 
Melbourne Mr. John Phillips made him at home. 

259 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

His sister, Mrs. Piatt, enjoyed a visit too, and 
friends in other places, among them Rev. Nathan 
Woodworth, whom Dr. Dunn baptized in 1840. 
This was their last visit, for Mr. Woodworth was 
soon called home. It proved to be a rainy and 
cold season, and after a few weeks he wrote 
back, '* My faith in climate weakens, and my 
faith in good physicians and in Providence in- 
creases," and he concluded that '' steam heat in 
a comfortable city house was after all the best 
climate " for him. And the large upper chamber 
which was always waiting for him in Scranton 
became his until his death. Here, with his desk 
in the sunny bay window, he continued to read 
and to write out of his still active brain and lov- 
ing heart until called to speak with the spiritual 
language of another life. 

Visits were made to the daughter in Nebraska, 
and excuse was ever ready for a trip to Hillsdale. 
The last one was at the Commencement of 1900, 
which was the year of the Quinquennial Alumni 
Reunion. The alumni banquet was held in the 
college chapel, and when Professor Dunn was 
called upon for the first toast, instinctively the 
vast assemblage rose, and without any previous 

260 



CLOSING DAYS 

arrangement stood silent for a moment; then 
handkerchiefs were fluttered everywhere^ and 
finally a rousing cheer prevented the opening of 
his speech. The surprised Professor waited with 
bowed head and shining eyes during this ovation, 
and then gave what he said would be his last 
message to the alumni. Like the elders of Eph- 
esus listening to Paul, they were ''sorrowing 
most of all for the words which he spake that 
they should see his face no more." 

He was still serving on the board of trustees, 
and while he said he was "■ only a looker on," 
and that he had served his term, and others who 
were younger must both do the work and give 
the advice, it was evident that even if his eyes 
were a little dim and hearing not quite perfect, 
his observation was as keen as ever and his 
judgment as good and his influence as great. As 
a little illustration of this fact, it happened that 
one of the committees in giving a report included 
a recommendation that had a more far-reaching 
effect than was supposed, and apparently a dis- 
astrous one in some directions. Professor Dunn 
arose and calmly said, '* Gentlemen, have you 
considered this matter in all its bearings.? " In 

261 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

a few words he explained the situation as he saw 
it, without any urging or show of feeling, and 
quietly sat down. At once the movers of the 
motion withdrew it ; those who had sustained it 
made a motion of 'contrary import, which was 
unanimously passed. As they passed out one 
remarked to the other, ** There's no question 
about it ; if he says it is so we know it is." And 
another added, ''Anyway, we'd do it for him." 
This little incident shows the reverence for his 
opinion and the regard for his feelings that they 
felt. 

His work for the college was not ended yet. 
During the summer he learned that a friend in 
Nebraska, whose days on earth were probably 
numbered, desired upon certain conditions to deed 
one-half of her farm to Hillsdale College. So he 
went to see her, and returned with a deed of one 
hundred and sixty acres of land worth eight 
hundred dollars, from Mrs. S. F. Smith of Long 
Pine, whose husband had given a large sum to 
the college before and expected to follow it with 
this later gift. After this tiresome journey he 
came back to Hillsdale and took part in a theo- 
logical institute, and then returned to Scranton. 

262 



CLOSING DAYS 

It was hard for him to feel that he could not do 
as formerly, and he would exclaim : *' If I could 
only work ! It is hard to sink away into nothing- 
ness. But I must and will be reconciled, and wait 
until my change comes." And then he would add : 
** The experiences of old age and accompanying 
disease shall not be cause for complaint or mur- 
muring. The will of the Lord be done." He 
was far from being useless or laid aside, how- 
ever. In the home his patient, cheerful life was 
a silent but powerful influence, and his advice as 
much sought as ever. In the church where he 
attended most regularly he* was esteemed highly 
by pastor and people, and in the Monday minis- 
ters' meeting his counsel was appreciated. His 
presence in prayer meeting whenever he was 
able to attend was considered an inspiration, and 
his remarks and prayers an uplifting power. 
After his death many were the expressions of 
regard from those who had known him even for 
a short period, such as these : '' We have a 
greater sense of Christian duty and a stronger 
faith because of his life here." " It was a strong, 
helpful life ; it was a privilege to have known 
him if only for a short time." ''His benign, 

263 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 




Grandpa Dunn. 



noble face will always be a picture in memory's 
portrait gallery." '' Holy influence radiated from 
him ; he was as one who was always in touch 
with the hem of the Master's garment." 

204 



CLOSING DAYS 

The pen could still be used, if weakness and 
circumstances did not allow of much preaching, 
and while he felt that the results were less 
satisfactory than formerly others felt that the 
articles from his pen were as direct and forceful 
as ever, and one editor said that his last copy, 
written the week that he died, was clear and 
distinct and free from error as on previous occa- 
sions. His last published article was a brief one 
on the " Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of 
Man," and was logical and strong and evangelical. 
He enjoyed hearing others preach, and took 
pleasure in telling the preacher when he had 
given a good sermon, and in speaking of it to 
others. This desire to be helpful by encourage- 
ment was characteristic, and younger preachers 
will never forget his kindness in this regard. 
One Saturday he walked down to the Synagogue 
and heard a young rabbi in an eloquent dis- 
course, and meeting one of the congregation, told 
him what a beautiful service it was and how he 
went home more than ever convinced that we did 
not appreciate the Old Testament as we should. 

The first Sunday in November he heard two 
fine sermons from representatives of the Presby- 

265 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

terian and Methodist Mission Boards, and came 
iiome from the morning service to weep and pray 
over the vast field of home mission effort as in 
the days of his youth. After the evening service 
he came in excited, and announced that with two 
more such sermons he believed he'd be a convert 
to missions. The next day he did one of his last 
acts for the cause of Christ he so much loved, 
when he wrote to Rev. T. J. Mawhorter, pastor 
of the church at Cosperville, Ind., inclosing a 
check for a memorial window in the new church. 
He had helped this church as he did so many 
others in their early struggles, and preached for 
them for a time, and assisted the pastor in his 
efforts to gain an education. Now he wished to 
bear a part in the completion of their pleasant 
and commodious house of worship. This letter 
was, no doubt, one of the last he wrote, probably 
the last completed and sent, and is as follows : 

SCRANTON, PA., Nov. 5, 1900. 
DEAR BRO. MAWHORTER : 

That letter and pledge for a window in your church was 

entirely forgotten. But inclosed you will find a draft for 

the twelve dollars. Am glad of your prosperity, and pray 

for your continued success. My pains are not less, but 

266 



CLOSING DAYS 

increased by rheumatism in tlie feet and neuralgia in the 
shoulders and chest. If this is the last work for the great 
cause, I do not know where 1 could better put it. I have 
paid over three thousand dollars for houses of worship 
and dedicated more than one hundred. My only regret is 
that I have not done more. But God is merciful. 
Yours in Christ, 

R. DUNN. 

The dedication of this church occurred during 
the following month, and in the report of it in the 
Star were these words: ** The church will ever 
revere the name of Dr. Dunn for his great work 
and for his interest in this church ; and this 
letter, written only four days before he was 
called to better things, will be treasured as of 
priceless value." When the time came for the 
midweek prayer service at the Baptist church, he 
said, 'M did want to go down to-night while the 
weather is so pleasant; perhaps I can't in the 
winter." But he had an attack of severe neu- 
ralgic pain that afternoon, and was feeling much 
exhausted. The care of the doctor and his wife 
made him comfortable the day following, and he 
attempted his usual walk, but found himself 
weak. So he decided to remain in the house 

267 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Friday and read the papers. He was much in- 
terested in the Presidential election of that week, 
and was reading the reports with great interest. 

When the afternoon mail came it brought him 
two letters, which his daughter opened and read 
for him at his request. Both were from India, 
one from Rev. E. H; Lougher, a former student 
at Hillsdale and in Professor Dunn's classes. His 
wife's family were also intimate friends of Pro- 
fessor and Mrs. Dunn. Mr. Lougher's letter 
closed thus : '' I wish I could sit with you and tell 
you about things as we see them, and hear again 
your voice that helped me so greatly in my 
college days and will follow me all through life. 
And let me say, Father Dunn, that if you must 
yourself simply wait these days, you must have 
the comfort that your boys, lots of them, are in 
the front ranks with the same Leader who in- 
spired you, with the same courage that held you 
up. If we do not manifest the same power, yet 
we will try to make your crown brighter with 
our little lives. God bless you and be your 
comfort." With his usual modesty he demurred 
at the implied influence of his life, which he 
thought was not as great as estimated, but, with 

268 



CLOSING DAYS 

his characteristic charity and i<:indness of heart, 
went on to praise the workers in India and their 
work. 

The other letter was from his daughter, Mrs. 
Clark of Ambala City in the Punjab, and he sat 
down at once to answer it, as he always did. 
The letter was never finished. A little voice 
called at the stair, " Grandpa, come down to 
supper." He loved to hear the clear childish 
voice of the little six-year-old Edith, and said it 
was *' the most musical bell " he ever heard, and 
so it was her delight to call him or go up and 
bring him down. The pen and glasses were laid 
down, and he took his usual place at the table. 
A favorite dish was served him to tempt the fail- 
ing appetite and assist the weak stomach, and he 
ate it with relish. As he started to rise from the 
table his daughter saw a wavering motion, the 
husband caught a glimpse of a changed face ; 
both were at his side in a moment, but he had 
fallen. The doctor could fmd no pulse, could 
detect no heart beats, and all efforts failed to 
bring again any signs of breathing. The great 
spirit had ''quietly slipped off home," leaving 
the casket, in which it had spent so many long 

269 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

and useful years, for loving friends to lay away. 
The good man had gone as he had wished, 
without suffering and pain and wasting disease to 
bring care and anxiety to friends, and without 
loss of mental powers and faculties. The help- 
lessness of body and mind of lingering sickness 
had been spared him, and he had simply walked 
in as the gates opened and was now where he 
should never more say, *' I am tired." He had 
been waiting and watching patiently for a long 
time, and the messenger had come at last sud- 
denly. As a friend beautifully and truly said, 
''the Father had need of him, and he was the 
one on whom he could call at a moment's notice 
because he w^as so well prepared for the great 
work in the Homeland." 

Sunday afternoon at the twilight hour sympa- 
thetic friends gathered with the family for a few 
words of prayer and comfort. The services were 
of a simple character, yet beautiful and impress- 
ive. Rev. Richard Hiorns, an aged Methodist 
minister, led in prayer. Appropriate Scripture 
passages were read. Then Dr. S. C. Logan, 
pastor emeritus of the First Presbyterian church, 
who had known Dr. Dunn in his earlier years 

270 



CLOSING DAYS 

when both were pioneer missionaries on the 
Western frontier, spoke of his faithful service and 
Christian zeal, and told how wisely and broadly 
he labored for the building up of Christ's King- 
dom and in the cause of Christian education. 
Dr. C. E. Robinson, pastor of the Second Presby- 
terian church, who had heard Dr. Dunn preach 
forty years ago, paid a touching tribute to the 
honored life and saintly character of the one who 
had gone, and referred to the influence he had on 
his own life, being one of the influences that 
helped to lead him to consecrate his life to the 
ministry. 

Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce, D. D., pastor of the 
Penn Avenue Baptist church, spoke with much 
feeling and with a sense of personal bereavement, 
for Dr. Dunn had been so kind and thoughtful 
and helpful to him in his varied ministries. Dr. 
Pierce's remarks were based on Paul's valedic- 
tory : *M have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown." In developing 
the thoughts concerning the Christian warrior, 
the fight of faith, the finished work, and the 
victor's crown, he made the fitting applications to 

271 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

this conquering hero who had just gone to his 
reward. '* The enlistment, the conflicts, the 
loyalty, the laurels have their significant lessons 
in the beautiful life and glorious service of Dr. 
Dunn, of whom we can well say 

" ' Life's race well run ; 
Life's work well done ; 
Life's crown well won ; 
Now comes rest.' 

The inverted torch with light gone out is not 
typical of his life, but rather an index fmger 
pointing upward, indicating that the life has en- 
tered into eternal day ; not the broken column, 
signifying life's plans rudely broken off, but 
rather a strong, symmetrical, polished, enduring 
pillar in the temple of the King. To lead one 
soul to Jesus Christ, to train one life for holy 
ministry, is a privilege and honor ; but to this 
honored servant was granted unnumbered joys in 
the many who will rise to call him blessed in the 
day of his coronation.'*' Dr. Pierce spoke of him 
as *'a man of rare culture, logical in argument, 
fearless in statement, eloquent in appeal, fervent 
in zeal, loving in ministry, eminent in piety, and 
faithful in service. A precious memory will be 

272 



CLOSING DAYS 

his life to tlie many students who have profited 
by his instructions ; but far more precious is the 
legacy to the loved ones of his heart — a Chris- 
tian father's exalted virtues and noble character. 
Could the silent lips be unsealed we would hear 
the sweet refrain, * Remember the words I spake 
while I was yet with you.' " 
After these remarks a sweet voice sang 

" There is never a day so dreary but God will give thee 
light, 
And unto the soul that trusts him he giveth songs in the 
night," 

and the two sad hearts started on their long night 
journey to the old home, with their ''dark 
freight, a vanished life." Their son, Wayland 
Dunn Gates, had just entered college at Hillsdale, 
and he and other college friends met them at the 
station. The older daughter, Mrs. Slayton, and 
her husband, had arrived from Nebraska, being 
summoned from a quarterly meeting which they 
were attending in Kansas, where Rev. H. M. 
Ford and jMr. H. S. Myers were among the 
speakers, and they and other kind friends made 
arrangements for this unexpected journey. 

273 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Neighbors met the sad party at the old home, 
and in the unchanged parlor where so many happy 
days had been enjoyed, where some such sad 
hours had been spent, placed the quiet sleeper. 
The faces of the mother who had gone and the 
sister who could not come looked down upon 
them from the wall ; old friends gathered around 
them, as they looked on the good, gray head that 
all men loved, the dear kind face that for so 
many years had been the embodiment of all that 
was truest and best in life, and was now to be 
theirs only in memory. '' God's fmger had 
touched him and he slept," and ''the Lord had 
kissed away his soul." 



274 



XIII 

IN MEMORIAM 

At two o'clock Monday afternoon, Nov. ii, 
1900, a procession of faculty and students 
marched from the Centre Building of the college 
to the home of Professor Dunn, where since his 
wife's death his apartments had been kept in 
readiness for him whenever he should choose to 
return, and where he now rested for the last 
time. Rev. Philip Graif, D. D., pastor of the 
church, led a brief service of prayer at the house ; 
then the family and friends in carriages followed 
the hearse with its precious burden'to the church , 
led by the escort of honor of the student body. 
By proclamation of the mayor all the business 
houses of the city were closed during the hours 
of the funeral. A large audience had gathered, 
not only from the city, but from the surrounding 
country and other cities. Floral tributes were 

275 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

many and beautiful, but the silent tears of heart- 
felt sorrow of the many friends assembled were 
the greatest tribute to his life and memory. 

** Asleep in Jesus," the dear old hymn that 
had been sung at former funerals in the family, 
was sung. The service was in charge of Prof. 
J. T. Ward, who read passages of comfort and 
assurance from the Word. Dr. Graif and Rev. J. 
B. Lash offered prayer. Memorial addresses 
were then given. Hon. F. M. Stewart of Hills- 
dale gave an address full of earnestness and feel- 
ing, representing the citizens and trustees, re- 
ferring to Dr. Dunn's long life among them and 
his consistent example and spirit of helpfulness 
in Hillsdale, where his going would leave a vac- 
uum never to be filled. 

Prof. C. H. Gurney then spoke for the faculty 
and students as follows : 

In coming here to-day, I have felt in some way that I 
would be more in a proper place could I sit with the rela- 
tives and family of our deceased friend. I am conscious, 
too, that probably a majority of those who have assembled 
here on this " sad occasion dear " have much the same 
feeling. Professor Dunn came so near to those he knew 
that this kinship was easily inbred. I regret exceedingly 
that President Mosher cannot be here to represent the 
276 



IN MEMORIAM 

faculty — a thing he could do so well — and thus speak 
the graceful and appropriate tribute now due. Much as I 
dislike any public notice, I yet deem it a privilege to bring 
my humble tribute of respect and affection. From the 
membership of this church there have gone in a short 
time just past some of the choicest of spirits. Were these 
walls one great phonograph, what a chorus of prayer and 
praise might be made to greet our ears. Holy men and 
women have here given renewed expression to the highest 
and richest experiences of the devout soul. We all agree 
that in that great chorus of lofty aspiration the voice of 
Professor Dunn would be distinctly discerned — pure and 
sweet and strong. 

For a third of a century it has been my privilege to 
know our dear brother. In the fall of '68, just before 
leaving my home to enter college in Hillsdale, Rev. O. D. 
Patch, then pastor of the Kewanee, 111., Free Baptist 
church, and now pastor in Manchester, N. H., said to 
me : " Well, you are going away to college. You'll need 
some friend to whom you can go when you are away from 
home. There is Professor Dunn, who has a heart as big 
as the world ; you can go to him and always find a 
friend." By request of Mr. Patch I stopped over night at 
White Pigeon, Mich., with his brother-in-law, I. L. Stone, 
superintendent of the public schools. Before leaving Mr. 
Stone he said : " There is one man in Hillsdale who will 
always be ready to listen to anything you need ; that man 
is Professor Dunn." I entered school; the term moved 
on as most terms do with unsophisticated boys from the 
277 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

country. Before the term closed some peculiar perplexities 
faced me — such perplexities as face boys unused to the 
life of a large school and the ways of the world. I needed 
a friend to whom I could speak my heart. Then I thought 
of the words of my friends. 1 sought and found Professor 
Dunn. I told him my troubles. He listened. Nor was 
his a dull or deaf ear. I realized then a meaning in the 
words of the great Goldsmith as he characterized the 
Vicar : " He watched and wept and felt and prayed for 
all." 

Here was one of the great characteristics of Professor 
Dunn's life — his large heart, his abounding sympathy, 
his great soul that embraced the world in its reach. This 
characteristic made him a great blessing especially to the 
younger members of the faculty. How his sympathy 
with every struggling student has made faculty sympathy 
for student life. To all the members of the faculty, I 
think another characteristic — his faith in human kind, 
his confidence in ultimate right, and his unshaken belief 
in a future — has been a blessing beyond expression. 
When others became despondent, when the outlook 
seemed somewhat gloomy, he with cheerfulness and con- 
fidence always added words of courage. His faith in 
Hillsdale College and its future was a thing sublime. 
That faith gave courage to many other hearts. When 
others thought possibly evil influences and machinations 
might eventually succeed, his confidence was unshaken, 
and he saw the right triumph. 
278 



IN MEMORIAM 

In things religious he seemed to know things intuitively. 
Questions that to other members of the faculty took long 
reasoning, and then came not very clearly, seemed to come 
to him like an intuition ; and he was right. That sense 
was to the faculty more than once a source of strength. 
This was shown some years ago when one of those who 
to-day comes from a distance to participate in these ?ad 
rites was a member of the senior rhetoric class. One of 
the examples for correction was on a definition of life. All 
the definitions given were tested by the rules of logical 
definition and found faulty. Other definitions were 
offered, and none would stand the test. The statement 
was made in conclusion that " life is a thing indefinable." 
That morning as I went to chapel, Professor Dunn sat 
in behind the old stove trying to get warm. I said: 
"Professor Dunn, tell me something; why can we not 
define life? We can get the genus, why cannot we get a 
differentia and so find the species? " " Oh," said he, " we 
don't need it. Life is life. That is enough." " But," 
said I, " that is not a definition ; we haven't finished." I 
wish you could see the features that lit up as the soul 
shone forth in its radiance. With a characteristic gesture 
pointing to his life, then with outstretched arm and index 
finger pointing to the Great Beyond : " LIFE IS LIFE. I 
feel it here, and I know it there.^^ Immortality was to him 
a grand present reality. 

The time fails me to speak of other characteristics I fain 
would mention. Only this : to the faculty and to all men, 
he had the largest possible charity. He thought ill of no 
279 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

man, nor of the motives of any. Whatever treatment he 
received, he always accorded good intention to ail. In this 
he had a large reward. It may truthfully and modestly be 
said that no one ever lived in Hillsdale who was accorded 
a higher meed of respect and honor than he. He was 
universally beloved. He has a full reward in the glory 
world, and he has also a large reward here. Of him the 
words of the immortal Gray are eminently true : 

" Large was his bounty and his soul sincere, 
Heaven did a recompense as largely send." 

Rev. L. A. Crandall, D. D., of Chicago repre- 
sented the alumni of the college, and in an 
eloquent address spoke of Dr. Dunn's personal 
influence : 

The influence of Professor Dunn can never pass from 
my life, or my love for him from out my heart. I entered 
Hillsdale College in the fall of 1870. At that time Pro- 
fessor Dunn had been temporarily released from his many 
duties in connection with the college and was seeking 
renewed health and strength on his Western farm. In an 
hour of peculiar exigency the authorities of the college 
urged him to return at once ; and, as always, the need of 
the college was his summons to toil. The Sunday after 
his return he preached in the college church, and I saw 
him for the first time. From that hour I trusted Ransom 
Dunn absolutely. Why? Because of the man. Because 
the ring of absolute genuineness was in all he said and 
did. The fullest explanation of his power as a preacher 
280 



IN MEMORIAM 

and platform speaker is found in his personality. I do not 
mean his temperament simply, the sensitive, nervously 
organized temperament, but the back-lying character. He 
did, indeed, possess in unusual degree the oratorical 
instinct. Having only this, plus oratorical training, he 
would have been a pleasing and popular platform speaker ; 
but with only this equipment he could never have become 
the tremendous moral force which we know him to have 
been. To an acute mind, marvelous command of lan- 
guage, impassioned delivery, elemental force, must be 
added lofty ideals, intense conviction, unselfish purpose, a 
pure heart, a broad and unfailing love, before we discover 
the secret of his power. 

In 1844 Chicago was a village of some 8000 inhabitants, 
and the few settlers in the great Middle West were strug- 
gling with primitive forces. In the fall of that year the 
Free Baptist General Conference met at Unadilla Forks, 
N. Y. One of the topics discussed was missionary work 
in the West. My father, who was present, has told of a 
most impressive scene in the progress of that discussion. 
A young man spoke out of knowledge gained by arduous 
toil in Ohio. The young man knew both East and West, 
and fully conscious of all that was involved of sacrifice 
and toil in the choice, he turned to his friend, William 
Burr, and said, " Brother Burr, bid my friends in Dover 
good-bye for me; I give my life to the West." That 
young man was Ransom Dunn, and only eternity can 
reveal all that the gift made that day meant to our great 
West. 

281 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

It is to be hoped that some historian will arise who shall 
write the record of Hillsdale College out of full knowledge 
and sympathetic interest. Until that time comes we can- 
not hope to have any adequate presentation of the lifework 
of Professor Dunn. Some of us feel the greatness and 
value of that work, but cannot command the historical 
details essential to its worthy portrayal. We all know 
how incessant was his labor, how wide and deep and 
beneficent his influence. We realize that his influence 
was not limited to the classroom or pulpit. When, some- 
time, we are given vision to see things as they are, we 
shall discern the generative influence of our friend and 
teacher. Then will pass in procession before us the lives 
that his touch awakened, the men and women who were 
first made conscious of their intellectual and moral poverty 
through contact with Ransom Dunn. It is a great thing 
to furnish food for intellectual hunger. To awaken that 
hunger is a work of no less importance. It was Professor 
Dunn's high privilege not only to teach the awakened, but 
to awaken the sleeping. 

In these last days of the dying century we rejoice in an 
educational renaissance, and in the great gifts which men 
of wealth are bestowing upon institutions of learning. 
We cannot question that the gifts are wisely utilized in 
advancing our civilization, and we accord all honor to the 
princely givers. But there are no money measurements 
for the gift which this man made to Hillsdale and so to 
humanity. He gave his life-blood. All that he had, all 
that he was, all that he could accomplish, he gave with 
282 



IN MEMORIAM 

joy to us. We call him dead. We shall hear his voice 
and clasp his hand no more. But he still lives, aye, and 
shall continue to live adown the centuries, in this institu- 
tion which he served with such matchless devotion and in 
the lives which he inspired and shaped. 

Rev. Mrs. Ellen A. Copp then spoke on Dr. 
Dunn in his relations to the denomination : 

Professor Dunn's relationship with the denomination 
began when at the age of sixteen he was baptized and 
united with the Free Baptist church. The conviction that 
he ought to preach the gospel came to him a short time 
afterward while reading an appeal to young men to enter 
the Western mission field. At eighteen he was licensed to 
preach, and at once entered upon his lifework. 

Coming to Ohio he first met the Western ministers at a 
yearly meeting. Amusing anecdotes are told of the first 
meeting, of the hesitation of the ministerial brethren about 
inviting him to preach. It is believed that while hoeing 
corn to pay his board the fire was burning in his soul. At 
least no audience was ever more completely taken by 
storm than was the company of staid, sober people who 
assembled on Saturday morning to hear the boy preacher 
"exhort." 

His success was phenomenal. Moral earnestness, clear, 

logical thought, deep spirituality, personal magnetism, 

and a voice of marvelous power and sweetness were the 

gifts with which he was endowed. He was ordained in 

283 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

1837, and in those early days he went from church to 
church studying during the daytime and preaching in the 
evening. Everywhere revivals attended the preaching. 
It was not an uncommon occurrence in those days for three 
or four to become overpowered and fall insensible during 
the service. 

To announce that Ransom Dunn would preach was 
sufficient to draw crowds. Old Free Baptists still affirm 
that just to hear Elder Dunn read a hymn was better than a 
sermon from almost any other man. He was the foremost 
Free Baptist minister of the West. 

In the days of pioneer work Elder Dunn added much to 
the denominational growth and strength by visiting many 
churches and quarterly meetings as an evangelist. He 
also held important pastorates both in the West and East, 
and he established new churches in Ohio, Illinois, Wis- 
consin, and other States. The influence of the spiritual 
training of the churches founded by Elder Dunn is still 
discernible. The soundness of doctrinal views and a 
certain clearness of conviction and strength of Christian 
character mark the membership of those churches. 

As a boy and man Elder Dunn was fond of study, and 
a part of his evangelistic effort was the searching out 
promising young men and encouraging and inspiring them 
with ambition and holy zeal for an education. Among 
others two young men in particular, since prominent in 
the denomination, G. H. Ball and J. S. Manning, were 
converted and led to fit themselves for the ministry 
through his efforts. 

284 



IN MEMORIAM 

Because of his interest in education he was appointed a 
member of a committee to consider the establishment of a 
seminary in Ohio. Geauga Seminary, the school which 
produced Garfield, Hinsdale, and other prominent men, 
was the result of the work of that committee. 

In i8$2 Elder Dunn was called from Wisconsin to 
become field agent for the new college just being estab- 
lished in Michigan. In the two years following he trav- 
eled with horse and carriage over six thousand miles in 
the interests of Hillsdale College, securing over twenty 
thousand dollars for its endowment. With a father's 
loving care he watched the growth of the college. In the 
capacity of field agent, professor of Moral Philosophy, 
Burr professor of Christian Theology, and acting presi- 
dent, Dr. Dunn was an able man, and to the day of his 
death a loyal friend to the college. In all these varied 
fields of labor he always sought the interests of the de- 
nomination. A Free Baptist through and through he 
expected of others what he himself gave — whole-hearted 
service to his chosen denomination as the best means of 
advancing the cause of Christ in the world. 

Professor D. B. Reed was the last speaker. 
He said : 

As my mind sweeps back over more than twenty years 
of somewhat intimate acquaintance with Dr. Dunn, I find 
that I invariably associate that name with life, activity, 
and consistent, aggressive Christian work. It is difficult 

285 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

for us to believe that he is dead. And need we, who have 
the full light of the New Testament? The visible form, 
through which his life's activities were wont to manifest 
themselves, has ceased to perform its normal functions ; 
but we do not forget that these words once fell from the 
lips of our divine Lord and Master: "Let not your heart 
be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my 
Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I 
would have told you. 1 go to prepare a place for you. I 
will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where 
I am, there ye may be also." I esteem it a great privilege, 
although a sad one, to speak a few words on this occasion. 

I shall speak of him as a friend, as a member of the 
church, as a Christian, and in the home. As a friend Dr. 
Dunn was steadfast, candid, helpful. He was helpful in 
his counsel, helpful in financial straits, helpful in his cheer- 
ful outlook upon the ultimate success of faithful endeavor. 
He seemed to understand at a glance the true situation of 
affairs, and so his counsel was of great worth. More 
than one student can testify to the help which he has 
received in times of financial embarrassment from Dr. 
Dunn, and many more have been lifted from despondency 
by his cheerful outlook with respect to the future. Could 
all those who have been thus helped by Professor Dunn 
enter that door to-day what a procession it would be ! 

For many years Dr. Dunn sustained to the Free Baptist 

church of Hillsdale the t^^yofold relation of pastor and 

member. As a preacher Dr. Dunn was one of the most 

remarkable that the denomination has produced. The 

286 



IN MEMORIAM 

sources of his remarkable power were his personal mag- 
netism, rare dialectical powers, deep emotional nature, 
vivid religious experience, and an overwhelming sense of 
man's lost and undone condition apart from salvation in 
Christ. When we speak of Dr. Dunn as a pastor we 
must remember that he carried the heavy work of a 
teacher during most of the time in which he served the 
church ; also that the churches in the West looked to him 
for counsel and support. Yet he found time to do much 
pastoral work. The sunshine of his presence enlivened 
the sick chambers, and the unconverted were personally 
solicited to yield to the authority of Christ. 

As a member of the church he was faithful — faithful in 
his attendance upon the regular services, faithful in the 
discharge of his financial obligations, faithful in helping 
to meet the extraordinary duties to which emergencies gave 
rise. As a Christian he had a positive conviction as 
regards the doctrinal system of the Biblical writings. The 
Bible was to him the Word of God. He was an ambas- 
sador of God. It was not for him to proclaim to the 
world his own message ; hence he felt a divine necessity 
laid upon him to make sure of the message contained in 
the revelation of his Lord and Master. 

He knew, however, that God was greater than a doc- 
trinal system, greater than a creed, and hence his religious 
life did not simply consist in the assent of his mind to a 
doctrinal system, but pre-eminently in a sublime faith in 
God as a personal friend. He believed that God walked 
with him ; he believed that God led him to the field of his 
287 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

life's activity ; he believed in prayer ; he believed that God 
was good, and that he would work all things together for 
good to those that love him. His was a fervid piety which 
seemed at times to pierce the veil which hides the unseen 
holies from man's ordinary vision and enables one to speak 
with the authority of a seer. 

It is above all in the home life where the supreme test of 
character is made, and in the home were revealed the ster- 
ling qualities of Dr. Dunn's character. In the home Dr. 
Dunn was always helpful. He was considerate ; he did 
not forget those little things which help so much to make 
up the sweet amenities of life. His firmness coupled with 
love enabled him to control in the home with but little 
apparent discipline, while his wise counsels won implicit 
confidence. In the hour of sickness his devotion was 
sublime. 

In some respects the home life of Dr. Dunn reminds one 
of the father of John G. Paton. " To the mid room or 
closet," says Paton, "daily and often we saw our father 
retire and shut the door, and we children got to understand 
by a sort of spiritual instinct (for the thing was too sacred 
to be talked about) that prayers were being poured out 
there for us, as of old by the high priest within the veil in 
the Most Holy Place." Thus with the home life of Dr. 
Dunn. His prayers, his Scripture readings, and the deep 
spiritual atmosphere which pervaded his life are among 
the most precious memories. 

We close our remarks upon the home life of Dr. Dunn 
with a beautiful tribute from the pen of Mrs. Delcie Gates 
288 



IN MEMORIAM 

Browning, who knew him intimately in his home: 
''People who saw Dr. Dunn in public, listened to his 
eloquent addresses and were touched by his magnetic 
force, only knew half the beauty and grandeur of his 
nature. It was in his home that one was inspired with 
the true nobility of his character. It could be truly said of 
our dear friend one could ' find no fault in him ' in his 
relations to his family, so kind and considerate to all, like 
a mother in his tenderness and thoughtfulness for the 
comfort and happiness of those around him. This same 
sweet spirit pervaded his life to the last, always anxious 
to make as little trouble as possible, and ever desirous of 
adding to the pleasures of those about him, whenever he 
could. To have been intimately acquainted with such a 
character is a privilege and an inspiration to live a truer 
and better life." 

Rev. T. C. Lawrence of Cleveland made the 
closing prayer, and while the choir sang '* Abide 
with Me," the vast assemblage passed out, paus- 
ing to look once more at the face of the one 
whom they would never see in Hillsdale again, 
but whose memory will ever be held sacred 
there. As with bowed heads they stood at the 
open grave with its rim of green and flowers, and 
heard the pastor read, '' 1 am the resurrection and 
the life," they felt to answer, *'He is not here; 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 



he is risen." We know he lives still, not only in 
our hearts and in our memories, but "forever 
with the Lord." 



The denominational papers and the secular 
papers, both local and metropolitan, contained 
notices of the death of Professor Dunn. The 
Free baptist of Nov. 13 said: ''The sad news 
comes to us as we go to press that Prof. Ransom 
Dunn, D. D., so long a familiar figure in all de- 
nominational gatherings, has gone to his reward. 
The denomination at large will be mourner at the 
loss of this, our ' Grand Old Man,' who has 
stood so long and so nobly for all that is good and 
great." The Morning Star of Nov. 15 had this 
editorial: "Who could expect that our famous 
pioneer preacher, church builder, school and col- 
lege builder, our veteran prince in Israel, Pro- 
fessor Ransom Dunn, could remain always with 
us? He is not, so far as bodily presence on 
earth goes, for God has taken him. An inex- 
pressible sense of bereavement will pervade 
thousands of minds and hearts as the knowledge 
of this event comes like a most unwelcome visit- 
ant. For Dr. Dunn was one on whom hosts 

290 



IN MEMORIAM 

have leaned, as they have lived the life of hope, 
faith, and love, on the pilgrimage toward heaven ; 
and the realization that he has passed ' beyond 
the river ' will beget something of the feeling 
which the disciples knew after the Lord had 
ascended to glory. This is a bold but truthful 
saying. Brother Dunn was only a man, but 
what a man ! Taken all in all, we shall not look 
upon his like again. Long has he lingered in the 
green pastures and by the still waters of Beulah 
land. His old age has been saintly, and a rare 
benediction. Now in ' sweet fields beyond the 
swelling flood ' he knows the bliss he has often 
so eloquently described and gladly anticipated." 

The same issue contained the account of his 
sudden death, written by his son-in-law. Dr. L. 
M. Gates, with this heartfelt tribute: **He has 
been living with us for the past two years, and 
while it has been apparent that his strength was 
growing less, the suddenness of the going comes 
as a great shock. His mind was ever clear, and 
his trust in God so childlike that his presence 
with us seemed like a benediction." 

Our Journal of Keuka College, N. Y., spoke of 
** his long life full of hard, successful work. He 

291 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

was a great revivalist, and hundreds were saved 
through his preaching. He was a leader with 
Hale, Whittier, and others in the antislavery re- 
form, and a constant temperance agitator. For 
over forty years he was a professor in the theo- 
logical school at Hillsdale, and did more for that 
institution, perhaps, than any other man. He 
was a scholar, in spite of weak eyes that forbade 
much study when young, for he studied all his 
life. He was a prodigious worker, though he 
carried ever a frail body, for he had great faith in 
God. He loved much. He was universally be- 
loved." 

The papers of other denominations also com- 
mented on his death and character. The Reli- 
gious Intelligencer said that ''his life was good 
and great," while the Messenger (General Bap- 
tist) called him "one of the greatest liberal 
Baptists who have ever lived." Everywhere, Will 
Carleton's paper, closed the obituary notice with 
these words: "He was a man of extraordinary 
eloquence and magnetism, and incessant energy 
and activity ; and was one of the most brilliant 
pulpit orators that our country has produced." 

292 



IN MEMORIAM 

The local papers had full accounts of his death 
and funeral, with comments on his life and work. 
The Standard: "The news wired to friends in 
this city Saturday was a shock to all, causing 
sadness in every home where Dr. Dunn's great 
worth was known so well. He was truly a re- 
markable man, having realized in his eventful 
life, by the force of his ability, perseverance, and 
determination, many of the high ideals he kept 
ever before him, things which others are content 
to dream. How able a preacher he was the 
people of Hillsdale are glad to testify. But it is 
with the founders of the college here that his 
name will ever be inseparably connected. For 
nearly fifty years Dr. Dunn has labored and 
prayed for Hillsdale College ; through all its suc- 
cesses and vicissitudes he has stood faithful, 
helpful, and inspiring. . . . Let us hope that his 
lifelong devotion may fall as a mantle on those 
who are left to carry on the work." The Demo- 
crat : "No sketch can adequately portray the 
immense influence which this man's personality 
has had upon Hillsdale College, its student body, 
its alumni, and the community in which the 
school is located. Dr. Dunn was one of those 

293 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

fearless, sturdy, forceful characters of the early 
settlement of the Middle West. He had the 
missionary spirit which redeemed continents, and 
the unwavering religious faith which in earlier 
centuries made the martyrs, in the width and 
breadth of the esteem and respect in which he 
has always been held by the thousands who have 
gone out from Hillsdale College to useful and 
active life all over the world is found the best 
and truest measure of the man." 

The Collegian, the Hillsdale College journal, 
gave a sketch of his life which " enumerated a 
few of the more striking events in a long life of 
usefulness," and closed with this tribute of sin- 
cere respect : ''To the young people who to-day 
throng the halls of Hillsdale College, and whose 
feet hurry up and down the stairways worn by 
his footsteps for so many years, such an outline 
can convey no idea of what his life has meant to 
Hillsdale. No title was ever more deserved than 
that of ' The Father of Hillsdale College.' From 
the day he looked about him in the wilderness 
which then spread over College Hill and said, 
'We will have a college here,' to the hour he 
breathed his last on Friday, Hillsdale, her present 

294 



IN MEMORIAM 

welfare and her outlook for the future, have 
always been dear to his heart. And dear to him, 
too, was the respect — nay, the reverence — with 
which he was cherished in the hearts of those 
men of younger years upon whose shoulders have 
fallen the responsibilities and duties of our col- 
lege. We who did not know him when the fire 
of youth yet lighted his keen eyes, and when 
resistless eloquence poured from those lips that 
now are silent, would bring at this hour our 
homage to the memory of one whose influence 
will be as lasting as his life was pure and true." 
But possibly the best obituaries that appeared 
were those from the pen of Hon. Geo. F. Mosher, 
LL. D., President of Hillsdale College. He said 
of them himself, '' I was much dissatisfied, but I 
console myself by reflecting that all the people 
know the dear man was better and nobler than 
any account we can give of him." But friends 
who read them felt that they were true and sym- 
pathetic, worthy the subject and the author. 
President Mosher was attending a denominational 
gathering in Iowa at the time news was received 
of the death of Dr. Dunn, and so was not able to 
be at the funeral. When the news was an- 

295 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

nounced at this meeting " many a sigh was 
heard, and elderly people wept who had found 
Christ under his preaching, for few of our 
churches in the West have not known and 
profited by his labors." President Mosher writes 
of Dr. Dunn's work as an evangelist, preacher, 
and reformer, and as a citizen, and says : '' The 
blow that has been suspended over us for months 
has fallen. What nobler use can we make of his 
life than to emulate his example of faithfulness 
and unshaken trust in Divine mercy? He was a 
good man. May his death ring out a new call for 
the same heroic, devoted, cheerful service as that 
which characterized the more than sixty years of 
his restless life." 

Space will not permit us to transfer to our 
pages all of the published testimonials of profound 
respect and esteem from those who knew his 
greatness and the scope of his power ; nor the 
letters with their messages of love and gratitude 
from those who knew the sweetness of his char- 
acter and felt the touch of his personal influence. 
Resolutions were adopted by Hillsdale College 
expressing the sense of great loss on account of 
his long and valuable service ; by Rio Grande 

296 



IN MEMORIAM 

College, honoring his memory for his assistance 
in its organization and the impress of his lofty 
Christian spirit ; by the Hillsdale Quarterly 
Meeting on account of his efficient leadership ; and 
other denominational organizations took suitable 
action. The Baptist ministers of the Abington 
Association, who hold their meetings at Scranton, 
passed resolutions of respect referring to his wel- 
come presence and wise counsel in their weekly 
conference, remembering his few but eloquent 
appeals for orthodox Christianity and feeling the 
power of his deep piety. 

We close this memorial chapter with a poem 
by a former student of Hillsdale College, Linda 
Schermerhorn Hibner : 

RANSOM DUNN 

"Only a man — that means only a son of God." — PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

The Indian summer lingered on, 

One psalm sang earth and sky. 
A " Peace be with you ! " floated down ; 

" We praise thee," rose on high. 

I wondered at the winds' control. 

That skies forbore to grieve ; 
I knew not that his saintly soul 

Of earth was taking leave. 
297 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

'Twas meet that 'mid such influence 
His sojourn here should cease — 

From peace on earth, his soul pass hence 
To the Eternal Peace. 

One of the host that leaned on him 

In life's unsettled stage, 
When th' unseen seems uncertain, dim, 

And doubts find anchorage ; 

One of the host, my reed of faith 

He strengthened to a staff ; 
My traitor doubts before his breath 

Were blown away like chaff. 

The prayer he lived, " Thy kingdom come," 

Was writ upon his face. 
And fears took flight and doubts were dumb, 

Confronted by its grace. 

'' Only a man " — " a son of God," 

Heir to his kingdom's height. 
Unsold his birthright ; from the sod, 

To mount to realms of Light. 

Would God his mantle, dropped to earth. 

Might fmd a worthy wearer ; 
Among the reapers he sent forth. 

His sickle fmd a bearer. 



298 



XIV 

PERSONAL CHARACTER — LIFE LESSONS 

As we have traced the life of Ransom Dunn 
his personal qualities have shown themselves in 
his work, but it will be well to direct attention to 
some of them that have not been especially 
noticed, or to emphasize those that have been the 
cause of his success. 

One characteristic was his extreme modesty. 
He had a sensitive, shrinking nature ; it was only 
the conviction of duty and the exigency of the 
need of others and the demands of the cause of 
Christ that drew him out of himself and into the 
prominent place. He was not conceited or ego- 
tistical, but humble and unassuming. It is for 
this reason that few of his manuscripts are found 
to-day. In his journal are references to articles 
written, of which he says they would " probably 
better be used as my manuscripts have been 
generally — for kindling-wood." His deprecia- 

299 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

tion of himself was not an assumption for effect, 
but a deep conviction of unworthiness. In ac- 
knowledging Christmas favors toward the last of 
his life he wrote: '*I have been overestimated 
by my best friends and even by my own chil- 
dren. My lack of faith and piety has been the 
curse of my life, and the occasion of so many 
faults and omissions that I am astonished at the 
forbearance and love exhibited by God and his 
friends." In his old age, when his friends ex- 
pressed the feeling that his successful efforts 
through his long life of usefulness and the results 
already seen should be a comfort to him, he 
would say he saw so many things that he 
had not done that he ought to have done, and his 
only hope and comfort was in the grace of God 
and the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. He 
sought places for others, but not for himself. 
Letters on file and records show his efforts to put 
himself out of the way that others might have 
positions of honor. If much of this unknown 
personal correspondence and of these official 
letters could be published it would throw new 
light not only on his own character but on events 
of the past. 

300 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

He had the greatest charity and consideration 
for others. With his keen insight into human 
nature and his quick perception of situations he 
often foresaw difficulties and prophesied results, 
and did not blame but always excused. If one 
did an unexpected or unwarranted thing he 
would say, "Well, he didn't understand how it 
was " ; or '' He is not quite as well as he used to 
be, and so is not to blame." Some have heard 
him tell the story of the man *'who never was 
the man he used to be" as a joking answer to 
the query how some actions could be excused. 
His theory evidently was that if a matter could 
not be corrected it was to be ignored, excused, 
forgiven, and forgotten, so far as he himself was 
concerned. 

His courtesy was unfailing. As President 
Mosher said, " he was a man of the people, but 
courtly and refined " ; and another speaks of him 
as '' a genuine Christian gentleman whose courte- 
ous demeanor was recognized by all, but he had 
the quiet dignity about him that leads to affection 
without familiarity." As one student expressed 
it, '' when you met him he spoke to you as 
cordially as if you were his intimate friend, but 

301 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

you walked with your head a little higher after 
he passed, as if his very dignity without con- 
descension had raised you in your own estima- 
tion and in the respect of others." His social 
qualities were remarkable. '' His cheerfulness 
was not surpassed in any company. Full of 
anecdote, quick at repartee, he was easily the life 
of the group in which he chanced to be." But 
he was always the gentleman ; one would never 
hear from him or dare to say before him what an 
innocent child might not hear. 

We are glad to speak of his buoyant spirit and 
optimistic disposition and genial life. For as one 
reads his life with its many dark shadows and 
with its great struggles, an erroneous picture 
might be imagined of a gloomy, morbid tendency 
and of a sad life. And photographs of the face 
with its deep-set eyes and firm mouth — and 
especially in later years when suffering and pain 
made their deep lines — may show a sternness 
that was not present when the features relaxed 
in the pleasant expression of conversation that 
his friends knew so well. The mountain-peaks 
of sorrow may hide the vales of gladness, but 
they are the longest stretches, after all. The 

302 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

wars in history cover less time than years of 
peace, but take more pages in the books that tell 
of them. Professor Dunn wrote to his daughter 
once, on hearing of sickness in her family : "Such 
is life ! Literally half night, and if not so in ex- 
perience it is fortunate and much better than 
some whose nights are all December nights, long 
and cold. But there is a life without nights, and 
even here we have more joys than griefs." In 
speaking one winter of a desired visit and family 
reunion he said : " Let us live one day at a time 
and borrow no trouble. The world turns one 
hundred and fifty times before June. We do not 
know what a day may bring forth. * The Lord 
will provide.' We may meet in Hillsdale, in 
Nebraska, or in heaven. But it will be all right." 
We have a little outline, given by himself, of a 
sermon he preached at one time on Ps. 4 : 6, 
*' Who will show us any good ?" in which he 
says: "We sometimes seem to see the sun of 
our life go out, while it is only the falling of a 
star, and the great Sun of our life never dies. In 
personal experience when we are in great suffer- 
ing there are a thousand times more nerves and 
susceptibilities untouched than those affected. It 

303 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

is wisely ordered by Providence that in the 
natural organs of our powers there is much good 
to be enjoyed, so even in poor health and trials 
we may enjoy some things. But in the moral 
nature is the chief good of life and being. So we 
find a satisfactory answer to the question if there 
be any good in earth. There is much good in 
earth, on which as stairs we may arise above the 
physical and intellectual to the moral, and up to 
God and heaven. We must have the right view 
of things, and especially of the value of the soul, 
of religion, of God and immortality. Lord, lift 
thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, and 
give us gladness in our hearts and peace in our 
lives." 

Professor Dunn was sincere in his friendships, 
and they were strong and lasting. One cannot 
look over the vast number of letters received 
from friends during his long life and not feel how 
deep was his regard for them and theirs for him. 
A man now president of a college wrote some 
years ago to Professor Dunn, '' No man's friend- 
ship is prized more highly or the loss of it could 
be regretted more deeply than yours." -The 
father of the head of the musical conservatory at 

304 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

Oberlin wrote of a proposed visit witli Professor 
Dunn, calling him '* my spiritual father and best 
friend, than whom there is no one I wish more to 
see outside my own family." 

His friendship was a helpful one whether in 
associations of church, college, or social life. 
Rev. A. T. Salley, D. D., a former professor and 
pastor at Hillsdale, writes: ''Out of nearly 
fifteen years of close association with him I bring 
this testimony to his memory. He treated me 
always with great kindness, helped me to bear 
the burdens of both church and college^ answered 
every demand made upon him for services. I 
took the place he had occupied, but never once in 
these years did Dr. Dunn utter a harsh criticism. 
I never consulted him in vain. His perception of 
the situation was intuitive ; his kindly heart 
prompted him to help with his counsel any who 
consulted him." No journey or exertion was too 
much to undertake to comfort a friend in afflic- 
tion; and when himself pressed for money, he 
often helped friends in need. No wonder so 
many said after his death, " He was a kind and 
helpful friend." His was, however, an ''un- 
flinching friendship which proved itself by rebuke 

305 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

when needed as well as by exhortation and com- 
mendation, and won an abiding confidence." 

These excellent moral traits were intensified in 
his home life, where he was most affectionate. 
He rarely punished the children. It was simply 
taken for granted that they would do as he 
wished. On one occasion a child who was visit- 
ing did something that was not allowed in the 
home, and the little daughter said, " My papa will 
look at you with his eyes ! " When the children 
were small he often held them while at his study 
or reading, to relieve the tired or busy mother, 
and would walk the floor, if necessary, at nights, 
with a restless baby, or risk his own life and that 
of his horse going for a competent physician when 
any of the family were sick. His strong but 
gentle hand would arrange the pillows for the 
sufferer and his unwearied feet go for delicacies 
desired. 

In later years when more closely occupied with 
literary work in his library it was to him the 
older children came for advice and assistance. 
His company was as much appreciated in the 
home circle as in the larger social gatherings. 
Meal-times were seasons of pleasant conversa- 

306 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

tion. The daily mail had interesting items to 
discuss, or a poem that struck his fancy. His 
reading was always a delight, and often while the 
mother was busy with her sewing he read to her. 
He was fond of music, and the Sunday afternoon 
hour when the daughters sang his favorite hymns 
were always remembered and missed when they 
were gone. When the family were separated, 
letters were frequent. His wife used to say they 
were short, but one sentence of his was worth 
more than pages of others. To the boys in 
college, during that busy period of his life, he 
wrote weekly letters, and their replies show that 
he kept their confidence in everything. To the 
young daughters while he was in Europe he said, 
'' One letter from you at home is worth more 
than a whole package of other letters." From 
the holy city he wrote: "The city is full of 
people, and some of them very fine people from 
Europe and America ; but I would rather see you 
than all the people in Jerusalem." The missing 
of the weekly letters in the far-away home in 
India is the saddest part of the separation since 
he went away, and the other daughters miss his 
terse letters with opinions on current events, ex- 
pressions of regard, and advice on all questions. 

307 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

In' religious matters he was helpful more by his 
own consistent example and his devotions than 
by persistent, obtrusive talk. It was assumed 
that the children were to go to church and they 
never thought to question it; it was a habit as 
much as going to bed or eating breakfast. It was 
understood that they should read the Bible and 
pray ; if it was worth his while to spend so much 
time in these exercises it was certainly best for 
them, and besides they loved to do it, as did their 
mother and father. His morning reading and 
prayers with the family are a precious legacy. 
Almost every book in the Bible has passages that 
carry his tone and look and explanation still. He 
felt that every man was a priest in his own 
household, and when stopping temporarily in 
another home would hesitate to assume direction 
of the daily devotions, but it was a benediction 
to the home to have him do it. 

His personal private prayers for the family 
were a felt blessing though never heard. And 
the love and prayers for the children were con- 
tinued to the grandchildren. When his oldest 
granddaughter was in Hillsdale making a home 
for her two brothers who were in college, he 

308 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

would frequently drop in unexpectedly, bringing 
some little delicacy, and pleasantly remark, '' I 
thought I would take dinner with you to-day," 
and stop and visit with them, talking over their 
plans and his feelings. The pictures of the little 
grandchildren whom he could not see and the 
letters telling of their cunning ways were much 
talked about. With the grandchildren with whom 
he lived at the last he showed great interest in 
their progress in their studies, remarking with 
assumed sternness but with twinkling eye as the 
report cards came in : " What! only 90 and 100 ! 
You were that before. Can't you get beyond 
that .-^ " On the Wednesday before he died, 
when the premonitory pain gave its half under- 
stood warning, he drew the little one to his arms, 
as she came up with sympathetic effort to do 
something for grandpa, and said: ''You don't 
want grandpa to be sick, do you ? You love 
grandpa. He loves you, and he prays for you 
every night." 

His trust in Divine guidance was a constant 
lesson. ''The Lord will provide" was his ex- 
pectation, and the Lord never disappointed him. 
The testimony of one who knew him intimately 

309 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

in his home for years may well epitomize his 
characteristics: ''Like every one else, I have 
always thought him a remarkable man in many 
ways. He combined in a rare degree an attract- 
ive personality, extraordinary intellectual ability, 
and beautiful Christian character. In addition to 
his eloquence, conversational powers, and un- 
selfish devotion to Hillsdale College, I think of 
him as an ideal man in his home." His was a 
hospitable home, — ''ministers' hotel" it was 
laughingly called sometimes. New students were 
welcomed there, new faculty members enter- 
tained there, and strangers made to feel at home. 
The regard of relatives outside the immediate 
family circle was marked. Letters from them 
contain such words as these : " He was a favorite 
uncle ; his visits seemed like a benediction." 
"His visits were always anticipated with delight, 
but we children felt that we must be very good 
because Uncle Ransom was coming. I regarded 
him as living on a higher plane than most of us." 
"We were always glad when Uncle Ransom came. 
The whole house was brighter for his coming." 
His regard for his relatives showed itself in prac- 
tical ways. His first wife's family were cared 

310 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

for as long as they lived. The nephews of his 
second wife had offers to come to his home and 
pursue their studies at the college at his expense. 
A niece who had lost her mother while young 
was given a home with Professor Dunn until her 
marriage. 

There were some strongly marked mental 
characteristics and habits of life that contributed 
in no small degree to the great success of Pro- 
fessor Dunn. Among them was his observant, 
studious habit, and the practice of adapting 
everything to his need and purposes. It is said 
of Garfield that he never allowed anything to 
escape his attention ; if he observed anything he 
did not understand, he would stop in the street 
and study it. It was so with Ransom Dunn. 
He used every opportunity to gain new knowl- 
edge. Whenever traveling he learned all he could 
of the places, the people, the events of interest, 
and studied methods of work and customs of life. 
This it was that, in addition to his wide reading, 
made him a ready man in conversation and gave 
him a fund of illustrations for his addresses, and 
made him an authority on almost every question. 
When in Nev/ York City, a stranger, in the midst 

311 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

of hard work, he found time to attend lectures 
by Choate, Sumner, Beecher, Stowe, and Father 
Mathew, and to visit the museums and places of 
interest in the city. In Boston he lost no chance 
of hearing Edward Everett and other orators and 
listening to medical lectures and legal trials, and 
took many walks to historical places, thus fitting 
himself to fill any position and to adapt himself 
to all people. 

His love of reading and of books was a char- 
acteristic of his life. When he made his Western 
tour of the great rivers and lakes after his first 
wife's death, he wrote in his journal : '' In order 
to be able to take my contemplated journey I 
was obliged to sell twenty-five dollars' worth of 
my books, which added to my sorrow if possible. 
Next to my family I value my books." In all his 
various changes his books were always packed 
with greatest care first, so that whatever else 
might be sold or lost they should be safely taken 
to the new home. But in his later years some of 
his books were given away to those who valued 
them, or to those who could not afford to possess 
what he thought they needed. Yet during the 
last years of his life, when his wife's death and 

312 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

his own health seemed to demand his living else- 
where, the books in his library were undisturbed, 
and that place was home to him, whoever might 
occupy the remainder of the house. 

His energy and determination are too well 
known to need illustration. It was his strong 
will power that made him ride over all obstacles, 
and in face of difficulties that would have over- 
come other men ride on to achievement of all his 
plans and glorious success in whatever he under- 
took. A frail body he may have had, but he had 
an iron will ; circumstances may have been 
against him, but he had dauntless courage ; oppo- 
sition may have met him, but he had persever- 
ance and conquered. 

His promptness was equally remarkable. He 
kept no tills in his desk for unanswered letters ; 
all were answered as soon as they were received. 
Anything he had to do was done in this same 
prompt way. When he saw a duty he proposed 
to do it at once. Decision and action were simul- 
taneous in his life. We are sure that for this 
energetic spirit there is no idleness to-day, 

" But somewhere, out of human view, 
Whate'er his hands are set to do 
Is wrought with tumult of acclaim." 
313 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

His spiritual life was made strong by his inim- 
itable faith, that remained unshaken whatever 
happened. Those who have known him for many 
years, lived in his home, or worked with him in 
various enterprises in which he was engaged, 
will never forget how often and with what assur- 
ance he quoted this one sentence, ** The Lord 
reigneth." 

He was a man of one book, notwithstanding 
his constant reading of many books. A boy who 
was fond of books and reading asked him one 
day, " What is your favorite book? " The reply 
was, '' Isaiah." Again the boy questioned, '* But 
who is your favorite author ? " Again came the 
quick reply, ''Paul." There was no book like 
the Bible to him. And among the many ways 
of studying it which he used, he, like Moody, 
loved best the topical method, taking some great 
themes and fmding out what the Holy Spirit 
taught concerning them. 

But the great secret of his religious life was 
prayer. While he was in Europe two of his 
daughters were baptized and joined the church. 
He wrote to them: "Trust in God and be faith- 
ful. Prayer is the life of the Christian. In 

314 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

every trial and every duty, in every temptation, 
at all times, pray. When working, reading, talk- 
ing, often raise the desires to God. This early 
became the habit of my life and has been the 
most important part of my Christian experience 
and happiness." 

This volume has been read in vain if the fact 
has not been learned that the one great charac- 
teristic of the life of Ransom Dunn was its con- 
secration, his utter devotion to the cause of 
Christ, his absorbing desire for the salvation of 
souls and the upbuilding of the Christ-life in the 
hearts of men. That these life principles may 
be the established ones in the lives of all the 
young people who may read this volume is the 
prayer of the one who writes these lines, and 
would be the great desire of the subject of this 
sketch could he speak once more with his elo- 
quent lips from his full heart, burning with the 
love of God. May it come as a message from 
the other world with still stronger force, and stir 
some hearts to fully surrender their lives to the 
Master and King, the Saviour of men. 

To the special audience of those who hope by 
pen or voice to glorify God in the ministry we 

315 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

have a word to say. Rev. C. A. Bickford, D.D., 
editor of The Morning Star, says: ''Natural and 
powerful orator that Dr. Dunn was, he did not 
use the press as much as was desired by others. 
But what he did write was thoughtful, purposeful, 
and virile. He appeared to write only with the 
purpose of saying something, of saying it directly 
and forcibly, and of stopping when he had said 
it." The reason for this was that he wrote when 
he had a special message to give, that he care- 
fully prepared what he had to say, and condensed 
it until it was clear-cut and concise. He thought 
too many words confused the view of the main 
thought ; and people did not enjoy reading long 
articles. Those who read his articles know that 
every word meant something distinct, and stood 
in its place in such relationship that it could not 
be changed. He wrote with his dictionary at 
hand, taking time to study definitions and syno- 
nyms so that no possible misunderstanding might 
arise from an obscure use of terms. He believed 
that many of the discussions and arguments on 
religious questions would be avoided if people 
more carefully studied their mother tongue. A 
prominent preacher and writer says of Dr. 

316 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

Dunn's writing : "He read extensively, thought 
carefully, remembered and digested what he read, 
and made his own the best thoughts, and ex- 
pressed his own ideas in eloquent diction, in short 
but strong sentences. And as years advanced 
his mental force was not abated, but his passion 
for investigation, strong thinking, and vigorous 
writing increased." Let our young writers learn 
the lesson of much study, clear thinking, and 
concise writing. 

But Professor Dunn will always remain in the 
memory of those who knew him or heard him 
the orator par excellence. Congressman Hopkins 
of Illinois said not long ago: *M have heard the 
greatest preachers of America and Europe, but I 
never heard one who could so move an audience 
as Professor Dunn." Why was it that he thus 
moved ''the hearts of the people as the trees of 
the wood are moved by the wind"? We need 
not repeat what so many have so truthfully and 
beautifully said. It was not his natural gift as an 
orator only, it was not his logic or his diction 
merely, not his indomitable will that would not 
fail, but it was the man himself. He walked 
with God and talked with God, and God talked 
through him. 

317 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

He was a man of convictions, and followed 
them. '* He loved his denomination, believed in 
its mission, rejoiced in its principles, and de- 
lighted to sacrifice for its growth. Yet he was 
not a sectarian. He did not love the denomina- 
tion as a sect but because of the principles it 
holds." Dr. Ball says that Dr. Dunn ''believed 
the Free Baptists to be of right members of the 
great Baptist family, and that they should culti- 
vate close relations to the larger Baptist body, 
which has, since the separation, made such large 
advance in the knowledge of the spirit of the 
gospel, so that now the majority of the body 
practically stand on the same foundation and 
preach the same doctrine that characterizes the 
Free Baptists. He favored proper measures cal- 
culated to bring the two bodies into closer fellow- 
ship for the good of both of them. He was more 
zealous for the truth and the spread of doctrines 
and practices to which he from his youth had 
been wedded, than separate denominational life." 
But he believed more firmly still in the larger 
Christian unity prayed for by Christ, the spiritual 
agreement, the sameness of relationship to God 
as children **born of God," "created in Christ 

318 



PERSONAL CHARACTER 

Jesus/' "of whom the whole family of heaven 
and earth is named." And with this broad love 
he worked with and for all, that the lost world 
might be brought back to the loving Father. 

Hon. O. B. Cheney, D. D., former president 
of Bates College, wrote to Dr. Dunn on his 
eightieth birthday: ''I have loved you for your 
precious work for the dear Lord, for your loyalty 
to our people. You are worthy to be named with 
Randall, Buzzell, Marks, Hutchins, and others 
who have marked out paths in which our people 
have delighted to walk. Your eloquence as a 
speaker, your magnetism in influencing your 
congregations, your power as a teacher, are they 
not indelibly inscribed in the life of the Free 
Baptist denomination? What more in point of 
honor can a man ask in this world than to have 
thus influenced mankind? " 



Our sad, sweet task is ended. We have *'the 
quiet sense of something lost." Work for him 
and with him has ceased, and now the story of 
him has been told. There is an easy-chair 
vacant in the home, a chair on the platform at 
Hillsdale College draped in black, an empty seat 

319 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

in church, a vacant place in General Conference. 
But with one who longed to know him better in 
this world we say, ** We know he has gone to be 
in eternal, blessed companionship with the great 
truth-fmders in the Kingdom, and sometime we 
shall greet him there," and claim him ours. 

'' So, dearest, now thy brows are cold, 
I see thee what thou art, and know 
Thy likeness to the wise below, 
Thy kindred with the great of old. 

" But there is more that I can see. 
And what I see I leave unsaid, 
Nor speak it, knowing Death has made 
His darkness beautiful with thee." 



320 



Selected Thoughts and Words 



He, being dead, yet speaketh.'' 



An Introductory Word 

It would be impossible to properly represent 
Ransom Dunn, the eloquent orator, by any ab- 
stracts of sermons or quotations from addresses. 
For the personal magnetism of the man, the 
thrilling voice, the impressive gestures so pecul- 
iarly his own, would be missing. The inde- 
scribable, sympathetic tone, and eloquence of 
manner as well as words that put him en rapport 
with every audience, cannot be felt as the words 
are read, even though it were possible to repro- 
duce the very words spoken, which is in most 
cases impossible. We can hardly do him justice 
either in attempting to give even written articles, 
for most of those published were for some special 
purpose and suited to that time and occasion, 
rather than for general reading, and lose their 
full force when taken out of their proper setting. 

''Few American pulpit stars," says Dr. Philip 
Graif, **have equaled Dr. Ransom Dunn in spon- 
taneity and fire, in flow of ideas and vividness of 
conception, and more than all in depth and per- 
manence of influence. Gifted with a voice of 
penetrating and dramatic flexibility, moving along 

323 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

with the torrent of his ideas, never hesitating for 
a word, he certainly had the art of casting a 
magnetic spell over his audience, and combined 
what is so rare — great rapidity of movement 
with lasting impression. College records, church 
minutes, and columns of statistics will not guage 
his dimensions, but in ennobled hearts and lives 
has God built his enduring monument." While 
this is eminently true, and the impression he 
made upon a vast number of people is indescrib- 
able but great and permanent, and the discourses 
and their effect cannot be reproduced, yet it is 
equally true, as the writer above quoted remarks, 
that "his style of diction was close and compact, 
his pulpit material well organized, his sermons 
and addresses were no haphazard structures, 
every word was italicized, and the whole showed 
that he was a profound student. He had an eye, 
too, for light and shade, perspective and propor- 
tion, and harmonious totality of effect." 

Perhaps even the few selections gathered may 
show a little of this clear, concise thinking, of 
the pure diction, forceful utterance, and unique 
illustration. And those who have heard him will 
supply from memory the sweet, pathetic voice or 
full, .resonant tone as occasion demanded, the 
earnest, rapt expression; and let imagination add 
the effective, characteristic gestures, remember- 
ing, with President Mosher, "that peculiar quiver- 
324 



AN INTRODUCTORY WORD 

ing movement of his long arm and shapely hands, 
as though the overcharged sensibilities and emo- 
tions were relieving themselves through this 
physical but eloquent channel." 

A few extracts from letters have been added, 
at the request of friends, showing a different 
style^ descriptive, conversational, or reminiscent, 
that made him a popular writer of travel 
sketches. 



325 



Letters 

ROME, Jan. i8, 1866. 
Here we are in old Rome ! Age does not always destroy 
vanity but tends to conservatism, and creates a high esti- 
mate of the past. So here. Like some old stooping half- 
blind dame who still insists upon hanging the jewels 
under her whitened locks and tying on the toggery of 
girlhood, so Rome, amidst the broken brick and patched 
walls more than twenty centuries old, puts on modern airs 
and ornaments, and, with the ruins of defunct and useless 
forms and institutions, attempts to stand up in the pride 
and vigor of youth. ... Of course St. Peter's was not 
omitted in our rambles. We went into it, through it, and 
up it, into the brass head at the top, feeling sure there 
were other brass heads of much less capacity. Indeed, 
this one differs from most others, for generally where there 
is a great deal of brass the size diminishes as you come 
nearer, but this ball upon the dome of St. Peter's looks 
from the ground not larger than your hat, yet when you 
get up to it, it is eight feet in diameter and capable of 
holding sixteen men. This cathedral is said to have cost 
originally more than forty millions of dollars, and they are 
constantly adding something new. The gilding of the 
altar cost a hundred thousand dollars. There is no use 
attempting a description of its parts. Even its size will 
hardly be realized. In a former letter I spoke of a church 
covering over an acre of land, but this covers five acres. 
326 



LETTERS 

And you are not to suppose that this is the only large 
and expensive church in Rome. There are three hundred 
and more, many of them from three to five hundred feet in 
length. 1 visited one chapel to-day the finishing and 
furnishing of which cost three hundred and twenty-five 
thousand dollars. It may seem strange to you that so 
much money can be put into some of these rooms that are 
only twenty or thirty feet, but it is in the gold, mosaic, 
statuary, and marble. Then there are paintings, some of 
which cost twenty thousand dollars. But the mosaic 
seems to absorb the most time and money in the least 
space, unless it be the solid gold decorations. We saw a 
table last week less than six feet in diameter said to have 
cost two hundred thousand dollars, requiring the labor of 
a large number of men for fifteen years. . . . And yet 
while millions are thus expended on churches, many of 
which are rarely used, and never for preaching, beggars 
throng the streets by hundreds, assailing you at every 
turn. There is more poverty and wretchedness in this 
city than I ever witnessed before. . . . But the past, the 
glorious, tragical, and awful past— Rome as she was when 
the world trembled at her word and kings and empires 
paid tribute to her greatness ! Here we are walking over 
the hills where Romulus stood, where senators legislated 
centuries before Christ. I am naturally fond of the new, 
and have said I took more pleasure in seeing one public 
work performed than in looking at a dozen already finished. 
But I am conquered. My feelings yield as I look upon 
these columns, buildings, statues, and paintings expres- 
sive of the feelings of hearts that ceased to beat long cen- 
turies since. . . . There is the Temple of Fortune, erected 
five hundred years before Christ, and the Pantheon, 27 
B. C. ; and then the Arch of Claudius, while yet the apos- 
tles were listening to inspiration. And there a few of the 
columns of the Temple of Saturn, the remains of the 
327 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Temple of Concord, the remnants of the old Forum in 
which the multitudes were exhorted to deeds of heroism 
two thousand years ago ; and near by the prison where it 
is possible Paul and Peter might have been imprisoned, as 
tradition affirms. . . . But that grand and awful Colos- 
seum, so often referred to and yet never comprehended, is 
at once the grandest specimen of ancient masonry and 
architecture, and the best illustration of the greatness and 
character of the old Romans of any remains of former 
times to be seen. . . . Here for four hundred years the 
gladiators fought, and here for twelve hundred years the 
Romans witnessed fights of beasts, circuses, and other 
amusements. But the most awful association is with 
reference to the early Christians, who were here tortured 
and mart^Ted by hundreds and thousands. ... As we 
stood upon the upper tier of seats and looked down a hun- 
dred feet into that pit, my weak head grew dizzy, the 
nerves trembled, and it almost seemed to me I could see 
the tigers and lions tearing the Christians, while their 
shouts of triumph rolled up those slopes amidst the wild 
jeers of the multitudes. 

Rome, old and new, has presented two distinct phases of 
human development. The heroic, great, and sometimes 
glorious in achievement; and the esthetic, astonishing 
the world with the chisel, the brush, and with music. 
Will she ever reach that other and higher tableland of 
practical life, where utility, benevolence, and piety shall 
sanctify her pictures and songs, remove her superstitions, 
and lead to good works for the race more enduring than 
her monuments and stately columns? 



CAIRO, EGYPT, Feb. 12, 1866. 
We are in Egypt, by the side of that mysterious Nile, 
whose annual flow made its immense valley not only the 
granary and garden of the world, but for ages the seat of 
328 



LETTERS 

empire and science. The natural scenery is still the same, 
and all the land, with its blanketed men and enslaved 
women, its camels and donkeys, its sun-dried bricks and 
primitive agriculture, appears very much the same as indi- 
cated in the dim morning of history, 2500 years before 
Christ. . . . This standstill aspect of the country is one 
of the first things that strikes the mind of an American. 
He seems not only to have gone six thousand miles from 
home but to have gone back three thousand years in his- 
tory. ... All the instruments of husbandry are of the 
most simple kind. A straight stick, about four feet long, 
with a piece of iron at the point, constitutes the plough, 
which stirs the ground about as much as a respectable 
pig's nose. And yet as the soil is washed by the Nile 
every year and is exceedingly fertile, and the people live 
mostly on vegetables, a large population of six millions 
subsist on a small space of land less than half the size of 
Michigan. . . . Most of the brick are of mud deposited 
by the Nile, made roughly and dried in the sun, just as in 
the days of Moses. These mud brick are laid into houses 
ten or fifteen feet square and about eight feet high. These 
huts, covered with palm leaves, without windows, con- 
stitute the majority of all the houses of Egypt. . . . The 
costumes and habits of the people are quite as simple and 
antique as their houses. Some of the Egyptian officers 
and nobility begin to yield a little to French tailors and 
milliners, but the great mass of the people, although 
adopting a great variety of colors and patterns, still con- 
tinue some form of loose dress and enormous turban. 
Our guide who accompanied us to the Pyramids wore a 
frock that cost him seventy-five cents ; a loose cloth or 
skirt around the loins, costing seventy-five cents more ; 
and a turban of silver cloth that cost eight dollars. . . . 
The spirit of oppression seems to be universal. The 
higher officers oppress the lower, the under officers the 
329 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

people, and the men beat the donkeys. But of all the op- 
pression that of women and girls is the most deplorable, 
and this is the secret of Egypt's fall. It is clear to 
my mind that the oppression of women leads to indo- 
lence, ignorance, and the decline of civilization, and is 
the main cause of the stagnation of countries that were 
once the glory of the whole earth. 

After a description of the Pyramids, the quar- 
ries, and the petrified forest, he says : 

We now leave Egypt, having experienced a strange and 
deeply interesting visit in this classic land, which is cer- 
tainly, under the influence of commerce, aggressive civili- 
zation, and religion, bursting up through the incrustations 
of conservatism, bigotry, and tyranny to a higher life. 
The Pyramids may remain, but the blankets and frocks 
will be exchanged for other clothing, carriages will take 
the place of donkeys, pumps be used instead of old 
wheels and broken jars, ploughs for sharpened sticks, 
houses instead of mud huts ; schools will be established, 
and the veils taken off from the faces of the women. 
Then will Egypt be one of the richest and most fertile spots 
of earth ; and visitors will be obliged to refer to history to 
learn the customs of the ancients. Success to those en- 
gaged in the work, and all honor to Him whose providence 
overrules the whole. 



JERUSALEM, March 22, 1866. 
It is just one month since we left the hotel at Suez, and 
until last evening we have not entered a house of any 
kind except the convent of Mt. Sinai. We were five days 
and nights upon the Red Sea, in a little clumsy, open Arab 
boat, sometimes becalmed, sometimes stopped by head- 
330 



LETTERS 

winds, sometimes drifting witli a broken anchor, some- 
times excited in looking tlirougli the clearest water ever 
seen upon the most beautiful coral bottom ever imagined, 
sometimes reading, sometimes praying, and sometimes 
scolding the lazy, cowardly Arabs for unnecessary delays. 
You may be sure there was a shout when we leaped upon 
the sand at Tor, a little cluster of huts 120 miles from 
Suez. Tents were soon pitched, tin plates and cups 
brought out, and we had our first meal upon the desert, 
were thankful, set up the family altar, and rested well. 

The Gulf of Suez is walled in with a bold, irregular, 
romantic series of hills. Some half dozen miles back of 
these there is another range extending still onward far to 
the south. These mountains, like almost all others upon 
the desert, present the aspect of clusters of Gothic points 
crowded together. The atmosphere is almost always a 
little hazy, just enough to soften the most rugged features 
of the mountains and, at a few miles' distance, render it 
impossible to see whether their sides are covered with 
vegetation or not. When the sun rose, giving us our first 
morning view of these desert hills, the scene was more 
grand, sublime, and beautiful than I had ever supposed 
possible in such a country. Beyond the plain, upon the 
western edge of which the waves of the sea were dashing 
near our tent, was stretched this long line of mountains, 
pressing their sharpened points against the sky, as though 
holding up the curtain for the sun's rising; and as the 
sunlight broke over some of these points the reflected 
light would present some bright surface, like the roof of a 
house, while near a little angle would leave a space shaded 
dark, giving the appearance of projections and recesses 
and open buildings. The light and shade constantly 
changing gave us a kind of panorama, the beauty of 
which was greatly enhanced by the different colors and 
shades of the rocks, from the blackest basalt to the whit- 
331 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

est chalk. That was a glorious morning, in spite of the 
miserable, filthy, half-dressed Arabs who came out to gaze 
upon the curious American animals. 

And now comes the two great necessary evils, the most 
unpleasant part of desert travel — the Arabs and the cam- 
els. Which is the most stupid we have not yet decided, 
although the former are certainly the most lazy and un- 
truthful. . . . They go heavily armed with swords and 
guns, but are great cowards, and our party of four gentle- 
men and two ladies felt perfectly safe amidst all this bar- 
barous display, and at times exercised authority over those 
twelve armed men with a good deal of successful, if ludi- 
crous, force. For our tents, baggage, provisions, and 
persons, twelve camels were necessary, and as no man is 
rich enough to own more than one camel, and each man 
must always accompany his own camel, we had quite a 
formidable cavalcade, and moved on from seven to ten 
hours a day in Patriarchal style. The camels, if less pro- 
voking than their drivers, are not agreeable companions. 
I am thankful for the existence of this animal, however, 
for as beauty is only appreciated by contrast it is well that 
so much ugliness should be concentrated in one animal, 
and turned loose upon the desert. His moaning is the 
worst part of it. I never could endure a sinking, sicken- 
ing, complaining spirit in bipeds or quadrupeds. But here 
you get it to perfection. If you strike the camel he is sure 
to groan; if you let him alone, he groans; and his music 
is a composition of the wail of a starving army mule and 
a dying calf. . . . 

But what of the "sand, sand, sand" of the imagina- 
tive writers ? Most of their letters were written from hotels 
near by, or round about the desert, by those who never 
saw anything but the border of it. Upon the banks 
of the Nile and the shores of the Mediterranean, and upon 
some of the hills between Cairo and Suez, there is sand, 
332 



LETTERS 

of course. But through the heart of the desert for fifteen 
days we did not pass five miles of sand. The universal 
surface is rock. For fifty miles around Mt. Sinai the 
mountains are high and sharp and numerous. From its 
top I counted nearly one hundred peaks. Mt. Sinai itself 
is seven thousand feet above the sea, and two thousand 
feet above the valley below, where the Israelite^ were 
camped when God talked with Moses. . . . 

Three days was the longest we had to go without find- 
ing water. The weather was delightful, the nights cool, 
and only for a short time in the middle of two or three 
days was the heat severe. But the winds were very dry, 
searching carefully for every drop of moisture even in the 
mouth and throat ; and one day the wind died away, and 
oh, how the sun did burn! The stone and gravel threw 
back the rays with increased force, and within an hour the 
face was smarting as if by fire, the head began to swim, 
the nerves to tremble. Two hours of such experience was 
enough for me, and enough to let us see as never before 
the power of the sun, and what it might be three months 
hence. . . . Last Friday the soil began to change, vegeta- 
tion to increase, and Saturday we passed over a plain of 
light soil, mostly cultivated, for ten miles south of Gaza. 
That old city is one of the oldest in the world. It was in 
its glory when Abraham passed down into Egypt, and 
was an old town when Samson carried off its gate ; and it 
is still here, without one particle of improvement for 
three thousand years. There is not a pane of glass, nor 
a cart wheel, nor a bit of machinery to be seen. But the 
large olive orchards of old trees of immense size, some of 
them not less than six feet in diameter, are splendid, and 
the view from the hill towards Hebron is one of the finest 
of the whole route. We encamped near the spot where 
Abraham was encamped when he received the promise. 
From Hebron by Solomon's Pools, Bethlehem, and Rach- 
el's Tomb to Jerusalem. . . . 
333 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

" The land flowing with milk and honey," and yet you 
have often heard of the " barren mountains of Palestine." 
Both of these expressions, and other apparent contradic- 
tions, are true. The most unpleasant and pleasant objects 
and experiences are brought into close juxtaposition in this 
country — ugliness and beauty, barrenness and fertility, 
destitution of water and the most splendid springs and 
fountains in the world, the best of men and the worst of 
scoundrels, the greatest nuisances travelers ever experi- 
enced and the most delightful travel; and, to cap the cli- 
max, the lowest superstition in the world and the most 
glorious system of religion which God could devise. And 
after all, this religious aspect and association is the one 
consideration that has made this little spot, less than 
two hundred miles long, the subject of the deepest interest 
to the civilized world. And yet more than half the time 
the people here have not been half civilized, and even now 
are scarcely more than a fair sample of what society was 
four thousand years ago. Is it not strange that such a 
religion should have originated in such a place with such a 
people? No, for if it had originated in Greece or Rome 
then it might have been attributed to mere human ability. 
But there is not now, and never was, a degree of intelli- 
gence and development in Palestine and Syria sufficient to 
produce such a system of ethics and religion as Christianity 
embraces ; but Christianity did certainly originate here, 
and therefore it is not of human origin. And has not 
Providence left this people stationary, and as they were 
two thousand years ago, to keep constantly before the 
world the fact that the gospel never could have been de- 
vised by human beings, and especially by such men, 
under such circumstances? There are associations con- 
nected with every point. Place after place whose names 
are so often mentioned in the Bible were passed. But 
I cannot attempt a reference to all of these spots of 
334 



LETTERS 

interest nor to the emotions experienced. We have had 
a thrililngly interesting ride through Palestine, and now 
after visiting Baalbek and Damascus we bend our course 
towards Europe, and — our glorious America. 



SAN FRANCISCO, July i, 1881. 

The scenery west of Salt Lake is wild and romantic. 
The narrow valleys, or canons, with their steep and per- 
pendicular sides and sudden turns, remind one of the 
awful grandeur of the mountains and valleys of Sinai. 
But the little withered grass and shrubbery and decayed 
appearance of the rocks in contrast to the Arabian desert, 
diminishes the sense of the grand and awful without 
giving the sense of the beautiful. And the gold of Sinai 
was truth dazzling in the lightnings of heaven, while the 
gold of the Sierras is dug from rocks and dust, and often 
with the " love of money, the root of all evil." . . . 

There are wonders here besides the mines so often de- 
scribed. Here is the Humboldt river rising from springs 
into which the lead has been dropped for 1700 feet without 
finding bottom, receiving tributaries, increasing to a large 
river, flowing five hundred miles, uniting with the Carson, 
and then sinking out of sight like an exhausted politician. 
How these rivers and other streams retire in a little 
marsh in the mountains of Nevada without filling up 
the basins at all, is a mystery ; and the artesian wells upon 
these high lands much above these " Sinks," and with few 
elevations above them, suggest important questions. What 
does the thirsty earth do with these immense drinks in 
these little Sinks, and what is the force that lifts these 
streams with energy above the mountain-tops ? 

Beside the wonders and the grandeur of these mountain 
plains there are points of interest in association and his- 
tory. Here is "Starvation Camp," upon Donner Creek, 
where in the winter of 1846 a company of eighty -two 
335 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

persons were overtaken by a snowstorm, and thirty-six 
perislied. Of a party of thirteen sentfor help, ten perished. 
Relief was sent, but it was impossible to save all. Mrs. 
Donner refused to leave her husband, and when the spot 
was visited again his body was found carefully laid out by 
her. How long she survived him is not known. 

Think you this spot was passed without thinking of the 
many who have perished upon these barren fields, and of 
personal experiences at the death bed, where clinging affec- 
tions have been sundered at last? Oh, what a world! 
and what is life without a future life? But life is not all a 
desert, neither is the journey to California. From the 
barren mountains we soon glide down through the fruit 
orchards and fertile valleys above Sacramento. . . . 



San Francisco, July i8, 1881. 

The most remarkable thing in this city is San Francisco. 
Here among these sand hills, a little while ago, there 
were a few earthen-covered cabins occupied by a few trad- 
ers, Mexicans, and missionaries. Now a city of nearly 
300,000 people, with handsome, broad streets, splendid 
mansions and public buildings, and all the characteristics 
of a large, growing city. The sand hills have mostly dis- 
appeared, and the mountains, surpassing the " seven hills 
of Rome" and the " tri-mountains " of Boston, are orna- 
mented with costly buildings. The writer is now looking 
upon a dwelling said to have cost two millions of dollars, 
and others near seem almost as grand. The elevation 
and size give grandeur, the floral and architectural orna. 
mentations add beauty, and the California cable cars fur- 
nish convenience. . . . With the largest ocean upon the 
globe, a harbor three hundred miles in circumference, 
mountains within and around the city, and the vast sources 
of wealth, it is not strange that great men with great am- 
bition and great fortunes are found here. 



LETTERS 

The field for Christian work in this country and city is 
very important, white, waiting ; may the Lord of the har- 
vest send the reapers ! There are some choice spirits here. 
I met a man eighty-seven years old who attends prayer 
meetings regularly, and takes active part, and exhibited 
deep interest in the sermon yesterday. Let those who, 
twenty or thirty years younger, make gray hairs an 
excuse for not attending religious meetings while able to 
go to parties for pleasure, business, or politics, learn a 
lesson. But the secret of this man's strength of faith, 
and thus enduring to the end, is this : he always takes an 
active part in social worship, and has read the Bible 
through sixty-six times. " Blessed are those that keep 
His testimonies." 



YOSEMITE, July, 1881. 
A quaint old traveling companion in Constantinople, 
after visiting the Bazars, his usual place of resort, 
stretched his feet to a small fire, exclaiming in a tone ex- 
pressive of great disgust: " Any man able to have a ten- 
foot room and grate of his own in America who will come 
over here and ramble over these ruins and hills, must be 
an uncommonly big-sized fool ! " I am sure that expres- 
sion, and especially that last clause, has been remembered 
a thousand times. And last Thursday morning, after en- 
joying good accommodations at Madera, and looking down 
the Southern Pacific Railroad toward home, thinking of 
ninety miles of staging over the hills and a ramble over 
this Big Hole in the mountain, that sentence came up 
again. But the mountains and health ! So when at half- 
past six o'clock the splendid team of six horses and 
coach for twelve passengers whirled up, we were off like 
the wind, and in less than fifteen minutes the morning 
breeze, immense plains and wheatfields, and the speed 
secured a unanimous vote that going to the mountains 
337 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

was wise, and somebody else was the big fool. As there 
was but one passenger, I knew exactly how the vote stood. 
The first twelve miles was completed in one hour and five 
minutes, without the use of a whip. From that point, 
■changing teams every twelve miles, the rocks, foot hills, 
and mountains, with shrubbery, stunted trees, and sugar 
pines twenty-five feet in circumference, were successfully 
passed, and sixty-eight miles completed early. With 
twenty-six miles the next forenoon the monopolist of that 
coach entered the great mountain wonder. If any person 
wishes to try such a monopoly, if the irons gripped so 
thoroughly are not \\'orn out nor the leather covering of 
the cushions so thoroughly pounded are not worn through, 
the proprietors will be thankful ; and as other monopolists 
seek luxurious country seats so this traveling monopolist 
will prefer a luxurious seat for awhile. But there are 
compensations. The horses are the best I ever saw upon 
any stage route, the roads splendid, fifty miles built by 
the Stage Company, at a cost of $70,000, through the 
most romantic scenery imaginable. 

Generally there is abundance of good company, for 
nearly two thousand visit these wilds at a cost of about 
$200,000 in three months, yet most go in parties, often 
crowding the coach. But as this one passenger this time 
is always fond of good(?) company and mountain scenery, 
that ride was a luxury beyond description. 

Descriptive terms and figures have been exhausted in 
efforts to describe the scenery of this world-renowned 
spot. ... It is about one mile wide and ten miles long, 
in crescent form. The valley is 4000 feet above the sea, 
its walks irregular, but ranging from 2000 to 5000 feet 
high and often perpendicular. The rocks are granite, 
generally light colored. Every type of mountain upon 
earth is here represented. The sharp Gothic points of Sinai, 
the perfect domes of Palestine, the rugged, irregular shapes 
338 



LETTERS 

of the Alps, may be seen here at a glance. But to get the 
conception of the magnitude is difficult. A man has to 
look three times to see the height. He sees a rock by his 
side — looks up to see what is over it — and then again for 
the top. Dean Swift's seventy-nine distinct smells in Leg- 
horn were no more clearly defined. Let one look at the 
gate-post of the valley, 3300 feet high, and imagine a 
column made of fifteen shafts the height of Bunker Hill 
Monument. Or take eight churches like old Trinity of 
New York, hang each upon the pinnacle of the other, and 
then they are no more than equal to the " Cathedral 
Domes " of Yosemite. If Niagara Falls were elevated 
fourteen times as high as they are, Yosemite Falls would 
still be higher. The quantity of water over these falls 
is not large, especially in summer, but their music is con- 
stant, and the beautiful forms of the currents and spray 
hang like master touches of supernatural pencils. From 
the valley these waters seem to fall from the cloudless 
skies, for higher land is hardly conceivable. But from 
one of these domes, 900 feet above the sea level, points are 
seen nearly twice as high, and vast fields of mountains 
with perpetual snow upon their shoulders. Mount Wash- 
ington is duplicated a hundred times. Indeed, if all the 
Green Mountains were piled upon the White Mountains, 
the whole would be a small pile compared with the fields 
of mountains with which nature has furnished this roman- 
tic walk of ten miles. . . . 

The pleasure of the trip is much enhanced by the ride of 
ten or fifteen miles through the Big Tree forest, now held as 
a government park. These trees found only in California, 
and protected by government only in this place, are almost 
as marvelous as Yosemite. There are hundreds of these 
forest monsters, one of which measures ninety-two feet in 
circumference at eight feet above the ground. The stage 
road passes through another, leaving about eight feet each 
339 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

side of the road uncut and the top alive and doing well. 
These giant trees and mountains seem to be echoing the 
inspired declaration : " The works of the Lord are great, 
sought out by all them that have pleasure therein." 

This week has been greatly enjoyed, and its wonders 
placed in the temple of memory by the side of the awful 
grandeur of Sinai and the beauty of Lebanon. 



340 



Skeletons of Sermons 

" The Fact of Dwine Government a Source of Joy.'''' — PSALM 
67: 4 and 97 : i. 

Introduction. 

Skill and efficiency in use of single tool an honor and a 
pleasure ; more so in many, as in manufacturing ; more 
still in control and direction of man, as in society and in 
government. 

In Divine government is highest joy. 

I. In the physical. 

1. Extent and universality — grand. 

2. Utility— nothing in vain. 

3. Uniformity of laws of nature. 

4. Providential and physical laws of nations. 
Conditions of national life and death as well as bodily 

health. God governs rise and fall of nations as well as 
tides of ocean. 

II. Special joy in God's moral government. 

1. Supremacy of its authority. . 

2. Universality. 

3. Minuteness, exactness, efficiency. 

4. Justice of its penalties. 

In the future, as here, penalty will be just, and given in 
love and benevolence. Does the judge lack regard for 
humanity when giving verdict against criminals "i Just 
the opposite. Cannot have government without law, or 
law without penalty. 

5. Character and condition of its remedies. 

341 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

All government assumes human depravity. Law as- 
sumes evil and professes to remedy it. Our law allows 
substitution, as in case of fines. So Christ died to save 
us. 

6. Certainty of its truths and promises. 

If 1 were starving, the promise of some men in this audi- 
ence would be equivalent to bread. So we rely on the 
pledges of our government. And m.ore than these the 
promises of God are sure. 

7. It will vindicate the right and righteous, and con- 
demn sin and sinners. 

So we rest on fact of Divine government in physical 
and moral world. As the traveler is glad to be under his 
own flag we joy to be under that of our Lord. The 
clouds are his banner, the forest trees his flag staff, every 
breeze proclaims him king. Nations bow before him. 

(a) In view of these facts, do we acknowledge his 
authority? 

If our Republic called all would respond, as twenty-five 
years ago. Shall we do less for our Divine Commander? 

(&) Do we realize the danger of being without the protec- 
tion of this Divine government, and the approval of the 
Divine Ruler and Master? 

[This was a strong discourse, clear and searching, but 
comforting and assuring.] 



" The Eternal Consequences of this Life.^'' — GAL. 6 : 7. 

This text and this discourse assume first, man's im- 
mortality ; and second, his continuous and eternal identity. 

The text indicates the danger of deception respecting 
the consequences of present actions, and that such decep- 
tion is mockery of God. The text positively affirms that 
the character and experiences of this life affect character 
and experiences of future life. This is evident 
342 



SKELETONS OF SERMONS 

I. From nature and surroundings of present life. 

1. Universality of law of cause and effect. This law 
is universal over all things and actions so far as seen in 
human experience. 

2. All the forces of life and time, in matter and mind, 
seem to be means to a future end, therefore affect the end. 

3. Final, ultimate, and eternal consequences are con- 
stantly seen in loss of time and opportunities, senses and 
capabilities. An eye lost is gone forever ; a day lost, a 
day behind always. 

II. Nature of death. 

1. In general consciousness and belief, it affects body 
only. 

2. It cannot change moral character, which is always a 
voluntary state of mind. 

III. Universal belief and consciousness. 

1. All men feel desire to correct evils and settle diffi- 
culties before they die, feeling a necessary expectation of 
future results from past action. 

2. This is general belief of all nations and times, and 
there is no good reason for such general belief but its 
truthfulness. 

3. Religious rites and sacrifices of all nations for the 
future. 

IV. Progressive nature of mind. 

1. Improvement in right secures eternal gain. 

2. Neglect, eternal loss. 

V. Law of habit. 

It increases the fixedness of character and condition, and 
must produce an unalterable state hereafter. 

VI. Continuous identity includes memory, and recollec- 
tion of unforgiven wrong to God or man must affect the 
future state. Happiness with those abused is impossible 
while the abuse is unforgiven. 

343 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

VII. God is just. Justice is not executed in this life, 
upon the innocent, nor upon the guilty, for they are often 
deadened in feeling or conscience, or die in the very act. 
Hence justice must be administered in the future life. 

[This was a powerful sermon, its effect on the audience 
wonderful, especially when illustrating the final conse- 
quences seen in this life by travelers on Alpine summits, 
in speaking of the power of habit, and in the closing argu- 
ment on the eternal justice of God.] 



344 



A Sermon 

THE POWER OF FAITH 

" For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, 
ye shall say unto this mountain. Remove to yonder place, and it shall re- 
move; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." — Matt. 17: 20. 

The supernatural power and possibility suggested in 
this text is conditioned upon faith, which in nature or de- 
gree is illustrated by the mustard seed. Some think the 
development and growth of faith is illustrated by the 
rapid growth from this small seed. Others suppose the 
object of the figure is simply to say that the smallest de- 
gree of true faith would be adequate for the most marvel- 
ous works. The difference in these expositions is not 
great. The smallest degree of faith will be growing faith, 
and thus well illustrated in both its nature and degree by 
this "least of allseeds." 

All faith is preceded by knowledge. All knowledge im- 
plies the existence of mental faculties, and depends upon 
one or more of four causes or conditions, — intuition and 
necessary truths, sense and perception, testimony of 
others, and reasoning. Knowledge is either positive or 
probable. A comparatively small circle surrounds every 
intelligent finite being, within which things are so posi- 
tively known that they are neither believed nor doubted. 
We do not believe, but know, that the sides of a true 
square are equal, and that every effect has a cause ; that 
the sun shines and the wind blows ; that Csesar lived and 
Luther preached ; that the certainties of mathematics and 
astronomy cannot be doubted. 
345 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

When a reasonable doubt is possible, probability takes 
the place of certainty, and faith the place of positive 
knowledge. Between that which is positively known and 
that which is positively unknown there is a wide field of 
probability and faith. In this field we find the activities, 
responsibilities, and duties of human life. And here is de- 
veloped the mightiest force of the universe, the power of 
faith. "Through faith we understand the worlds were 
framed by the word of God," From the throne of God 
through all the experience and history of intelligent beings^ 
individually or collectively, faith is the all-pervading, uni- 
versal power. 

This faith may be intellectual or moral. Intellectual 
faith embraces all those states of mind in believing and 
trusting forces, laws, facts, and statements not involving 
moral character. Even in this sense, without regard to 
right or wrong, its power is immense. 

1. Subjectively, upon the mind itself. Every possible 
degree of mental growth and development depends upon 
this principle as really as physiological life depends upon 
oxygen. Respecting what is partially known or probable, 
something more is believed, and thus what is possible be- 
comes probable, and probability more certain. Possibili- 
ties, at first only subjects of hope, become matters of 
belief, then inducements to action and causes of highest 
intellectual attainments. 

2. This power is the efficient cause in scientific investi- 
gation and discovery. Some fact is known which directly 
or otherwise indicates other facts to be believed ; and fol- 
lowing the lead of such beliefs the mysteries and utilities 
of science are brought to light, and nature is made an 
open volume. Even accidental discoveries are not thought 
of until seen upon the sides of paths pursued by faith in 
search of something not known. Faith is the fundamen- 
tal element in every scientific work, the inspiration of 

346 



A SERMON 

every scientist, the headlight in every true system of phil- 
osophy. It was the pilot for Columbus ; the lamp with 
which the mariner's compass, the printing-press, the 
steam engine, the railroad, the telegraph, and the tele- 
phone were discovered. 

3. This power is the light and life of art. In music, 
painting, and architecture, faith in what is not seen is the 
inspiration. By it palaces are planned, temples built, 
their walls ornamented and music furnished. Mechanical 
arts, manufacturing, and commerce are controlled by this 
same power. As agriculturists live by faith in seasons 
and harvests not yet seen, so teachers, lawyers, physicians, 
and clergymen must necessarily live and labor upon this 
principle. 

4. Faith is the fundamental element in all social and 
civil life and happiness. The statesman, above all others, 
is and must be a man of faith. Animal instincts may 
control and be controlled by direct, and present impulse, 
but men must believe in something not seen and in the 
future. All men are dependent, and the feeling and con- 
sciousness of such dependence necessarily leads to confi- 
dence in something upon which to depend. Rulers and 
generals are often successful or otherwise in proportion to 
their faith. Whole armies are frequently victorious by 
faith in their leaders, or lost by the lack of such faith. 
Generally, true courage is the courage of faith, without 
which defeat is almost sure. 

5. But the most common and striking manifestation of 
the power of faith is seen in its influence upon the body 
through the mind. The wild confidence of the maniac 
frequently doubles his muscular force; and the waiting, 
loving mother or wife endures fatigue and labor for loved 
ones with almost superhuman strength. Love and faith 
give strength that nothing else could produce. 

347 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

And so in many cases of sickness. Some are cured by 
faith in medicines, and some by faith in doctors, when 
there is no virtue in either. Intelligent physicians gen- 
erally put quite as much reliance upon the right state of 
mind in their patients as in medicine. And probably more 
people die from the lack of faith than from the lack of reme- 
dies. In despondency appetite and digestion are deranged, 
company and exercise avoided, and disease increased. 
Faith in something or in somebody is often a condition of 
health. Whatever of remedial force is experienced under 
the influence of mesmerism, spiritualism, Christian 
Science, Mormonism, etc., is undoubtedly the influence of 
the mind upon the body, and the influence of the mind as 
exercising some kind of faith. It is not all imagination, 
but real belief in the power professed and expectation of 
promised relief, that stimulates the organs and functions 
of the system so as to overcome disease and restore 
health. The forces of human nature are material, in- 
stinctive, and mental, and in general purpose unite in pro- 
tecting life and promoting health. It is not always easy 
to distinguish one from the other, or to know exactly the 
limits of either, but of the fact of the influence of mind 
upon the body, and of faith upon the mind, there can be 
no doubt; and that most of the marvelous cures effected 
by quacks and fanatics are to be referred to this cause is 
quite certain. Such is the power of faith as simple intel- 
lectual belief in things and truths. But when this confi- 
dence, or faith, is exercised respecting moral beings, it is 
another matter altogether. As soon as man perceives 
relations to moral beings he necessarily feels himself 
under obligation, and that under such obligation some- 
thing is due to others, and that love or good-will is the 
general duty to God and all his creatures. 

This is moral faith. Not simply confidence in matter 
and its laws, intuitions and reasonings, historic truths and 
848 



A SERMON 

future events, but loving confidence in a living being. 
It is just as distinct from intellectual faith as the feeling of 
love for a father is distinct from the estimate of his por- 
trait. A child may believe the words of a stranger, but 
may have faith in a mother when she does not speak. 
Devils believe what God says, but they do not believe in 
God. Man sees with his eyes, hears with his ears, has 
all his physical qualities in his physical nature, and all his 
moral character in his moral nature. Whenever the 
right kind and degree of confidence and love are exercised, 
it is all that a moral being as such can do. And hence 
love, which implies proper estimate and emotion, is the 
fulfilling of the law. A man may be responsible for 
accepting or rejecting evidence, but simple belief as such — 
assent of the understanding to evidence — is neither right 
nor wrong ; but " faith in God that works by love and 
purifies the heart " is allegiance to God, obedience to his 
law, and the condition of childhood in his family. Such 
faith has power : 

• I. Over the personal character and conduct. " To them 
that believe on his name " he gives " power to become the 
sons of God." " And if sons, then heirs, heirs of God, 
and joint heirs with Christ." This secures the " Spirit of 
life in Christ " which gives power over the appetites and 
instincts of the flesh, securing a new " birth of the Spirit," 
a "birth from above," a new life "hid with Christ in 
God." It gives power for ruling the ambitions and fluctu- 
ations of one's own spirit, which is " better than to rule a 
city." In a word, the whole of true Christian character 
and all good conduct depends upon true faith in God. 

2. This is the power that endures all things. Loving 
confidence in family and friends will sometimes sustain 
with marvelous fortitude the labor and suffering for their 
welfare. But faith in God surpasses in this respect all 
other kinds and degrees of strength. It seems to secure 
349 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

divine power, so that in the severest and most excruciating 
distress the sufferers are not only able to endure, but to 
rejoice, in tribulation. The fire and blood of torture and 
martyrdom are thus endured with patience and triumph. 
Buddhists and Stoics have tried in vain to be insensible to 
pain, while the luxurious and profligate have with equal 
failure tried to increase animal pleasures in excess of suf- 
fering, but to faith alone belongs the honor of power for 
triumphantly and profitably enduring the ills of life. The 
world's sorrows are conquered, and its tears provisionally 
wiped away. 

3. " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even 
our faith." Whether we look at the human heart in its 
natural depravity and tendency to selfishness and sin, or 
upon the world in its bloody history and general guilt and 
blackness of crime, we are forced to admit that power for 
overcoming such a world must be superhuman. Civil 
authority and military discipline, art and culture, science 
and wealth, have all been tried in vain for that purpose. 
Natural religion, reason, and philosophy have all beert 
powerless in the fight against sin. But the " good fight of 
faith " has been successful whenever and wherever it has 
been tried. No intelligent man expects victory over the 
world's crimes and miseries without faith in truth, and 
truth in morals is only successful with its personification 
in some living being, and none but God is a true personi- 
fication of '' the truth which shall make you free " and by 
which men are " sanctified through the truth." This is 
the "faith that subdued kingdoms, wrought righteous- 
ness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 
<juenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the 
sword, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens." 

It not only conquers the world, but gives new life. It 
■conquers to save. Stoicism only claims to deaden the 
pangs of pain. Pleasure seekers only pretend to furnish 
350 



A SERMON 

temporary pleasures. Wealth can only furnish a limited 
supply of gratifications, and further increase multiplies 
cares and troubles. The modern type of old heathenism 
which teaches men to deny the pain that everybody knows 
is really experienced, is only a denial of common conscious- 
ness and common sense. But Christian faith furnishes 
the good instead of evil, happiness in the place of sorrow, 
hope for despair. It is thus the great and the only reform- 
atory power the world has ever seen. Faith is the vital 
force of all benevolent and Christian enterprises. With- 
out this, organizations are but dead bodies. Priestcraft, 
ritualism, and moral machinery may operate for awhile, 
like galvanism upon a corpse, but the true element of life 
and usefulness is gone. Faith that stirs men to '' take 
hold on God" is the only hope of the Church and the 
world. 

4. This power is promised and manifested especially in 
connection with prayer, which is the condition of certain 
blessings not otherwise secured. All blessings have their 
appropriate conditions. The eye for beauty, the ear for 
music, the sense of taste for food. Health and strength, 
food and raiment, knowledge and civilization, all have their 
conditions. So it is with reference to happiness, holiness, 
and hope. " Whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
Lord shall be saved." A man might as well think of 
eating plates for food, studying astronomy with a plow, 
or clothing himself with arguments, as to expect to be 
saved without faith. And he might as well think of 
living happily with his wife without conversation as to 
pretend to love God and not speak or pray to him. Prayer 
as an act of worship has its purposes, and is the condition 
of many blessings regardless of specific petitions. And 
even specific petitions are often general conditions. Repeti- 
tion, multiplicity, and importunity may be necessary to 
success. Cornelius was informed that his prayers came 
351 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

up before God. How many were necessary to secure that 
answer we do not know, nor how many times Jacob 
repeated his request. We only know that the repetition 
is sometimes the condition. But there are two universal, 
indispensable conditions of successful petition in prayer: 
that general, evangelical, loving trust which accepts of 
God's promises and embraces the living God in Christ as 
a real, living being, such confidence and love as lead from 
sin to entire submission ; and " if we ask anything accord- 
ing to his will," he heareth. A saving faith and petitions 
according to God's will are requisite always. The Word 
of God, providential circumstances, and the influence of 
the Spirit are the sources of our knowledge upon that 
question. And then we may not know positively, and so 
must follow Christ in saying, " Thy will be done." Peti- 
tions thus inspired may be answered in one of two ways : 
sometimes by the specific blessing asked for, but more 
commonly by the gift of the ultimate blessing contem- 
plated in the specific petition. A widow may ask for 
money to purchase bread. If the money is not given, the 
prayer is answered if the bread is bestowed. A patient 
may ask his physician for a certain medicine to cure his 
disease. The doctor, knowing better, may effect a cure by 
other means and thus answer the petition. Every pray- 
ing man has some end more generic and ultimate than his 
specific petition. A man prays for wealth or health, but 
neither could be a blessing without a right state of mind, 
nor a real good if asked for animal and selfish purposes. 
If, in the loss of both, the higher happiness is secured, the 
prayer is answered. Any prayer offered for the life of 
James A. Garfield as a mere animal life, or a life in in- 
sanity or crime, was an abomination ; but every prayer 
offered for that life in true faith was answered in the 
general good of the nation, the ultimate end of all true 
Christian citizens. All true faith reaches above and be- 
352 



A SERMON 

yond mere facts, to God himself. There is scarcely a 
greater absurdity conceivable than the assumption that the 
belief in certain historic facts or future events is faith. 
A belief that a sick friend is going to recover may be en- 
tertained by a praying Christian or an infidel quack with- 
out any faith in God. An unbelieving worldling may be- 
lieve that church prosperity is sure to follow the eloquent 
sensationalist, while the true believer sees no grounds for 
such expectations. Belief in a coming revival may be 
firm without the least faith. " The effectual, fervent 
prayer of a righteous man availeth much," and any such 
man to whom God reveals his will and purpose respecting 
any blessing or desired event, requiring prayer as its con- 
dition, is in joint heirship with Christ, and can never fail 
in anything asked in his name. There is no limit to the 
power of faith in prayer but the will of God. To stop the 
sun, transplant the mountain, heal the sick, or raise the 
dead is possible for the Almighty, and for those whom he 
authorizes. But let no one imagine that his belief in such 
possibilities is evidence of divine authority. Indeed, there 
is not a particle of evidence that the power to work mira- 
cles was ever given to any one as a continuous gift to be 
employed at his own pleasure. Once Joshua stopped the 
sun, once Elijah prayed for rain, and once Paul shook off 
the deadly viper, but never to gratify ambition or curiosity. 
To prove divine authority, miracles were wrought, and un- 
doubtedly only upon the revelation of God. If anybody 
has such revelations now, let him show the power. 
" These signs shall follow them that believe." And so it 
has been, but not all believers at all times and places, but 
so as to prove the presence and authority of Christ. Even 
Christ did not work miracles alike in all places. If mira- 
cles are necessary, the power of faith is the same as ever. 
And they were never wrought when unnecessary. "The 
prayer of faith shall save the sick." But not all the sick ; 
if so, none would die. 

353 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

There remains yet one other question respecting this 
power of faith. Where or in what department of the 
divine administration is this power to be exercised? In 
the physical or moral government of God. One method 
was adopted in talking with Adam, another with Moses, 
another with the prophets, and yet another in the Gospel 
dispensation. John prophesied of Christ and the baptism 
of the Spirit. Christ, after promising to *' be with his 
people to the end of the world," and to " meet with two 
or three who should meet in his name," said it was "ex- 
pedient " for him to go away, for he would send " another 
Comforter who should abide with them for ever." Order- 
ing the Apostles to " wait in Jerusalem until endued with 
power from on high," he left the world to be governed 
under the influence of the Spirit. This spirit was poured 
out at the Day of Pentecost, at the opening of the king- 
dom to the Samaritans and the Gentiles, and in all the 
Christian churches. The church is now a "spiritual 
building," and its praying is " in the Holy Ghost," which 
teaches men how they " ought to pray," and all its work 
is to be "led by the Spirit." Evidently the works and 
faith and prayers are now in the spiritual dominion of the 
King eternal. AH physical divine manifestations typified 
and represented the mental and spiritual. Instead of phys- 
ical phenomena, we now have the spiritual ; instead of 
miracles upon rocks and seas, we now have the miracles 
of grace; instead of circumcision, the spiritual birth. 
Answers to prayer and the promise of faith are now upon 
the heart, and through the mind upon the body. " The 
prayer of faith saves the sick " by its marvelous influence 
upon the mind and nerves, which is frequently more effec- 
tive than medicines. That this is the nature of real faith 
cures is evident from the fact that the best authenticated 
cases are those more closely connected with the mind and 
nerves, while new eyes, new hands and feet, and resurrec- 
354 



A SERMON 

tion from the dead are not even pretended. There never 
was a time when the power of faith was stronger or more 
effective than it is to-day. Never were its results and pos- 
sibilities greater than at present, nor the demand for its 
exercise more imperative. Divine power over material 
forces has been sufficient to prove the presence and spirit- 
uality of God and the divine authority of his revelations. 
And now it only remains for believers to trust in him and 
lead the world to surrender to his spiritual and gracious 
dominion. *' All things are possible to him that be- 
lievelh." 



365 



Articles from Papers 

CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR UNION 

** That they all may he one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I 
in thee, that they also may he one in us.''' — John 17 : 21. 

This petition could not have referred to church or denom- 
inational union. 

1. God is a Spirit, and the only conceivable union be- 
tween the Father and the Son must be spiritual. To 
affirm a physical, ecclesiastical, or organic union in the 
Godhead is absurd, if not blasphemous. 

2. Christian, spiritual union is experienced where or- 
ganizations are not the same. True Christians are one 
in spirit, and love confined to associates in ecclesiastical 
organizations is not Christian love ; and those who look 
for union only in such organizations fail to appreciate the 
prayer of Christ and the spirituality of his Church. 

3. Christ's prayer was consistent, according to the 
will of God, for God's own people, offered by the most 
worthy suppliant who ever prayed. To suppose that this 
petition is unanswered respecting the millions who from 
different churches have gone to heaven, or that it was an- 
swered respecting the members of the one Roman Catholic 
church during the Dark Ages, is inconsistent with the 
character of Christ, the doctrine of prayer, and the prom- 
ises of God. 

4. The greatest degree of ecclesiastical unity has pre- 
vailed under the Pope of Rome, but the multiplied denom- 

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ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

inations in Christian union have led more of "the world 
to believe" in Christ during the present century than 
ecclesiastical unity ever effected in a thousand years before. 
Christ's prayer is heard and answered, and would be if 
sects were doubled. Some men talk about visible churches 
and sects with seemingly as little conception of the spirit- 
uality of Christ's Kingdom as the Jews evinced eighteen 
hundred years ago. 



REVIVALS. 

The finite forces of matter and mind are vibratory. The 
air that moves the infant's lungs and floats the snowflake 
away soon in the currents of a cyclone moves fifty miles 
an hour with force that sweeps fruits and fortunes, houses 
and occupants, to destruction. The gentle shower may 
increase to a cloudburst that washes the mountain-side, 
and the smooth river with unobserved current may soon 
form a cataract which makes the mountain tremble. The 
slumbering forces of the earth may break forth in the 
earthquake or volcano. In the vegetable kingdom the 
growing trees grow for a few days or weeks, and then 
remain stationary for months. The bodies and instincts 
of men and animals are not developed by regular, invaria- 
ble processes, but with much more rapid growth in some 
months than others. This is just as true of mental as 
animal development. Students and apprentices frequently 
improve as much in one term as in two other terms. 

Thus by analogy and the universal laws of nature we 
are taught that development and improvement cannot be 
expected by continuous unchanging progress, but by 
special waves of force, human or divine, in individuals or 
society. 

The history of religion furnishes no exception to this 
general rule. Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohammedan- 
357 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

ism, and Roman Catholicism, in spite of their high pro- 
fessions of uniformity and infallibility, have developed 
many changes in the degrees of their success. They all 
had revivals. 

And so it was with the Jews. That was a grand 
revival of Abrahamic faith under the labors of Moses and 
Aaron. And the revival in the days of Ezra and Nehe- 
mrah is worthy of special note in this connection. John 
the Baptist as a successful preacher of repentance and 
faith will be a good example in all revivals in all evangel- 
istic labors to the end of time. 

But Jesus himself was the greatest and most wonder- 
ful and exciting revivalist ever seen upon earth. When 
we consider that he had at one time five thousand men, 
beside women and children, a hundred miles from Jeru- 
salem, the only large city in Palestine, without civil au- 
thority, royal display, or other worldly advantages, with 
nothing to attract but the plain truth of man's depravity 
and God's offer of mercy by the death of his Son, we 
must conclude that there must have been tremendous ex- 
citement to draw ten thousand people such distances, over 
such roads, and hold them there until evening. Mod- 
ern revivals, with all the attractions of the music, 
art, and eloquence of advanced civilization, produce no 
equal excitement. But he " continued all night in 
prayer," and "wept over "the wicked city, in the real 
revival spirit. 

And the Apostles entered into that same spfrit at Pente- 
cost after the ten days' prayer meeting. And the book of 
the Acts of the Apostles is mainly the history of "times 
of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." 

But the absolute necessity of seasons of special revival 

is not only vindicated by analogy and the laws of nature, 

the experiences of the world, the history of Israel, the 

experience and practice of Christ and the Apostles, but the 

358 



ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

nature of things and circumstances proves the indispensa- 
ble necessity of such works and experiences at the present 
time. 

1. Religious and moral errors are very numerous, and 
they are seldom removed by logic and philosophy. Com- 
bined heart forces and divine influence are more effectual. 

2. There never was a time when art, appetites, false 
reasoning, habits, pride, and the fear of the world pro- 
duced so many excuses, apologies, false arguments, false 
garbs for sin as at the present day. A public revival that 
affects public sentiment affects these difficulties. 

3. Every one by his nature and environment is carried 
by strong currents in the " broad road " of the world that 
leadeth to destruction. Thus habits are fixed which can 
only be broken by vigorous effort and excitement, 

4. This is a busy world, in which the people not only 
ask, " What shall we eat, what shall we drink, and where- 
withal shall we be clothed.'"' but, "How shall we get 
money, and how shall we make it more productive?" 
How can it be expected that these strong habits of thought 
and feeling will be changed, and worldliness and wicked- 
ness be abandoned for God and heaven, without some 
special impulses, human and divine? The Spirit is prom- 
ised to " reprove the world " for this very purpose. 

5. A very large proportion of the world will never move 
in public enterprises, politics, or religion, until moved upon 
by the public. And very few persons remain unmoved 
when the public is moved. One man may do his own 
work, but he cannot alone man a war-ship, or even pull it 
into the dock for repairs. This is the greatest cause of 
failure in revival work — too much expected of one man. 

It sometimes takes the vote of a whole State to induce 
one man to vote. It often requires a whole church to pro- 
duce a public sentiment sufficient to influence one into the 
way of life. 

359 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

SUBSTITUTIONAL ATONEMENT 
Every leaf and flower, every nerve and muscle in all 
organic matter, is provided with remedial force for the 
relief of disease and the prevention of death. All disease 
is not remedied, nor is death avoided, but the universality 
of remedy in nature indicates the divine plan, and the 
probability of remedy for moral evil. These natural pro- 
visions for relief and safety are largely substitutional, and 
so it is in the moral government of God. If a hand or 
eye is injured, other muscles or senses are quickened for 
extra service. If individuals of families or civil society 
fail, others must bear the extra burdens, and so fulfil the 
laws of nature and " of Christ." The existence of society 
without this provision is inconceivable. 

Substitutional service and sacrifice are required in all 
relations of life. It was indicated in the divine voice to 
the tempter in Eden, and more fully stated respecting the 
offering of Abel ; not forgotten by Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob, and the Israelites. By revelation Moses gave spe- 
cific instruction respecting atonement and sacrifices. Lev. 
5 : i6 ; Exod. 32 : 30 ; Num. 6:11. In all the offerings and 
sacrifices of the Jews two objects were evidently in view : 
(i) Such obedience to divine law as to secure the favor of 
God. (2) The continued presentation of the promised 
Messiah. Failure in this regard was counted robbery of 
God. Mai. 3:8. In the promises to the patriarchs — the 
prophecies of Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, 
and others— and in the preaching of John the Baptist, 
Christ is brought forth as the great offering. The preach- 
ing of Christ and the Apostles recognized the divinity of 
Christ and the manhood of Christ, and the worship and 
honor rendered to him and the demands for general belief 
occupied so much attention that the personal character and 
work of the atonement was not generally made prominent 
in their preaching. The military spirit of the age led to 
360 



ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

the recognition of the " rights of conquest " as a ground 
of governmental claims to authority, so that many sup- 
posed the conquest of Satan in Eden gave him a claim to 
the proprietorship and governorship of the first parents 
and their posterity. This theory with modifications con- 
tinued for a long time, especially with the Ebionites, who 
were of Jewish origin and denied the divinity of Christ. 
The Gnostics with assumed superiority of knowledge and 
philosophy virtually denied the humanity of Christ. 
And so between these extremes the nominal Christian 
Church was agitated until Anselm in the tenth century 
made a statement of the doctrine of Christ and the atone- 
ment generally satisfactory to evangelical Christians. 

It is now generally believed that the Creator is the pro- 
prietor and universal Ruler of the universe— that he has 
established such physical laws as best to represent the 
attributes and character of the Creator and to promote 
the happiness of universal being. That as a moral gov- 
ernor he has published such laws and penalties as required 
by the nature and relations of mankind. But the revela- 
tions of God's works and word prove that voluntary sub- 
stitutional penalties may be accepted when the principles 
of justice and benevolence are recognized and motives 
against vice and for virtue made as effective as personal 
penalties. And so " God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish but have everlasting life," and the Son 
voluntarily gave his life for that purpose. Matt. 20 : 28 ; 
Isa. 35 : 10 ; John i : 29 ; 3 : 16 ; 6 : 54 ; Rom. 3 : 25 ; 5 : 
91 ; Pet 3 : 18. Every family, church, and state is based 
upon this law of substitution. And society is inconceiv- 
able, and benevolence impossible, without the law of 
bearing one another's burdens. This is the law of Christ. 
Gal. 6 : 2. And so the innocent suffers for the guilty. 
361 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

Moral evil is the greatest evil in the universe, and moral 
rectitude (the right state of mind towards God and man) 
the greatest good in the universe. Penalty is for prevent- 
ing one and promoting the other, and if a substitute en- 
dures the penalty with benevolent purpose he thus secures 
the highest happiness possible. All penalty must be evil 
to the sufferer or it is not penalty, but it need not be equal 
to the desert of the criminal. If so, it would not diminish 
suffering as a whole. But if the character and relations 
of the substitute are as effective against sin and for justice 
as the penalty would have been, law and justice are satis- 
fied and the criminal is pardoned. 

Such is the relation of Christ and his sufferings to man 
and his redemption. But such could not be the case if the 
object was only to show God's hatred of sin— and he died 
as an example for that purpose — or if he died regardless of 
law and public justice simply as a moral influence. What 
would a human government be that should enact laws and 
penalties, and then say that any transgressor might es- 
cape the penalty by reform and petition, or without either? 
But Christ died for sinners, and that upon condition of 
repentance (the right state of mind respecting sin) and 
faith (the right state of mind towards God) they shall be 
pardoned. This is God's plan of salvation. " For there is 
none other name under heaven given among men whereby 
we must be saved " (Acts 4: 12). 



COMMON SENSE AND RELIGION 
Common sense sometimes means common conscious- 
ness, or the sum total of man's intelligence; and some- 
times just enough of human intelligence to distinguish him 
from the lower animals. But more generally and in this 
paper it means the intuitive action of the mind towards a 
reasonable end, without the process of reasoning. It in- 
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ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

eludes the common action of the ''iive senses," the intui- 
tions respecting original suggestions and all the necessary 
truths implied in reasoning and logical or practical propo- 
sitions; in which all honest men with equal intelligence 
and advantages of environment will commonly agree. 

Common sense teaches and proves the existence of a 
God. 

I. There are certain original suggestions, or elementary 
thoughts, never proved or denied, but early and always in 
the field of consciousness, and necessary in all mental 
activity. The infant sees the light, then the mother, thus 
indicating the original suggestion of entity, or being. It 
soon reaches for the picture or its mother, and thus shows 
the idea of space, the where. But in that reaching there 
must be idea or notion of power, the most tangible and 
universal idea in the universe. Immediately that child 
observes the difference between the time of asking and 
receiving, and thus arises the fourth original suggestion, 
duration. And this as a simple idea may be applied to 
eternity or an hour. Any limitation or qualification of 
duration makes it a compound idea. And so of any ele- 
ment of thought or thing. No one can in thought or feel- 
ing pass these four elements of thought without coming to 
the principle of causality. Not by finding an effect of 
which the mind necessarily affirms a cause, for the idea of 
cause must be there before we speak of cause and effect. 
Cause is therefore considered elementary. The individual 
has found himself and his mother, and thus the original 
suggestion of being or existence, the notion of space that 
is between himself and others, the idea of power in efforts 
for objects of desire, and simple duration in succession of 
events and cause in effects always. These are included 
in, if not the whole of, the natural attributes of God, and 
as they are original in human nature may be considered 
the facts or attributes of the Creator, fixed by himself in 
363 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

the mind of man indelibly, so that the normal activities of 
mind and men shall reveal God in every place and period 
of the universe. 

There are other ideas which, if not as simple and phil- 
osophical, are of equal importance. All moral law is the 
claim of one or more to whom an obligation is due upon 
those owing the obligation, and therefore must always be 
according to the nature and relations of the subjects. 
Anything less or more is not just, and therefore not bind- 
ing. All law must be a revelation from the party to whom 
the obligation is due. " Where no law is, there is no trans- 
gression." Revelation of laws may be general or specific, 
to individuals or society. Laws may be revealed by 
works or words. God's laws to men are revealed in na- 
ture, providence, and grace, and in his Word. 

2. Common sense approves of common and special 
testimony. The character, ability, and numbers of be- 
lievers in the existence of an intelligent, independent God 
is another evidence of the truth of that belief. A large 
portion and proportion of the human race have believed in 
a divine existence. Even polytheists while worshiping 
many gods have believed in the supreme agency and 
divinity of a ruling force, and generally in a central, 
supreme Author and Ruler over all, and considered the 
others as inferior deities. This will include the best class 
of pagans and deists. Probably more than ninety-nine 
hundredths of the most civilized, best educated, and 
benevolent of our race have believed in one God, and as a 
rule they are the best able toiHstify upon this subject. 

3. The general utility of this belief is an argument in 
its favor. The Greek philosophers considered it of great 
importance in civil government, without which it was said 
an efficient government could not be maintained. The 
usual form and practice of oaths in evidence and among 

364 



ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

civil officers, wliatever may be tliought of tlieir necessity 
or propriety, indicates the permanency of the belief in the 
utility of religious beliefs and practices. 

But in the social experience of the world the utility of 
theism is best seen. It is under the influence of that 
belief that the family relation has been established and 
perpetuated, and most of the enjoyments of life are made 
possible. Public conscience, so indispensable in commer- 
cial and business relations, depends largely upon public 
convictions respecting God ; and when he is set aside gov- 
ernments fail and anarchy prevails. 

Institutions of learning have been established and main- 
tained only where men have believed in a God and wor- 
shiped him in some way. Poetry and books have been 
successfully published under that influence, and nowhere 
else. The great English statesman expressed a willing- 
ness to consider favorably the claims of infidelity when 
it could show its schools and benevolent institutions, 
which are now found only in Christian countries. This 
world is full of sin and sorrow. Most of the criminals are 
godless in belief and character, but most of the institu- 
tions for reforming the wicked and relieving the suffering 
are built and upheld by faith in God. Whoever heard of 
a free thinkers' free school, a Voltaire hospital, or an In- 
gersoll rescue mission ? 

But personal experiences may be multiplied until they 
assume vast proportions. Millions of Christians die every 
year in hope and peace. Probably many unbelievers die 
without fear, like the animals, but never with hope and 
peace. Even if belief in God were a fiction and the Chris- 
tian's hope a dream, the peace of the dying is a great com- 
fort, and the hope of their friends of inestimable worth, 
such as an unbeliever in God can never know. Belief in 
God furnishes more happiness to the sick and dying and 
365 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

their friends every year than a thousand millions of golden 
dollars could possibly impart. The utility of this doctrine 
is a sound proof in its favor. 

4. The argument of Paley and others, based upon the 
statement that the exhibition of intelligent design proves 
the existence of a designer, has never been refuted, but is 
too well known to demand a repetition. The force of this 
argument depends upon the number of adaptations, as in 
the thousands of cells and fibers of the biceps muscle, 
which produces a single motion of the forearm, and the 
thousands of works designed by that single action. There 
are hundreds of thousands of cells and fibers or parts of 
the human body, not one of which is useless or without 
design. And the relations of parts and forces of the 
body reveal more of skill and intelligence than the steam 
engine or a silk factory. No wonder that with few excep- 
tions men have everywhere and always believed that the 
world was the work of a God. 

There are four great facts revealed respecting the char- 
acter of God, the consideration of which necessarily in- 
cludes the subject of moral character, and therefore are 
known as his moral attributes. 

Wisdom is defined as the choice of the best ends, and 
the selection of the best means for their attainment. That 
God is wise in the true sense is clearly revealed in the 
existence and government of the universe, in which the 
happiness of universal being is evidently the great end 
proposed, and the innumerable sources of divine, angelic, 
human, and animal pleasures are proofs unlimited. That 
his holiness— love of truth and right — is beyond all finite 
appreciation is evident from the facts of his government 
and repetitions of his highest worshipers, " Holy, holy, 
holy, Lord God Almighty !" 

The goodness of God equals his wisdom and holiness, 
whether contemplated in his personal rectitude of charac- 
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ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

ter or benevolence of action. " Every good and perfect 
gift cometh down from the Father," and, although not ap- 
preciated or even recognized, yet every minute of time, 
particle of food, comfort of life, and hope for the future 
are indications of the infinite goodness revealed in the 
" unspeakable gift " of his Son for man's redemption. 

But we must not insult common sense by omitting her 
testimony respecting the justice of God. Justice is not 
simply love, and yet there can be no true love without 
justice. As a personal trait it is implied in the considera- 
tion of other moral attributes. Sp every moral attribute is 
implied or assumed in every other, and yet they are not 
exactly alike. 

Mythological philosophy brought out the goddess of 
justice, with her robes of dignity, stern face, and sharp 
eye, with the even-balanced scales in her hand. Her 
march is not ended nor her decisions entirely ignored, nor 
is the justice of God lost in his fatherhood. He is still 
upon his throne, executing justice upon individuals and 
nations the same as ever. 

*' Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever ; a scepter of 
righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." 



PREACHING THE GOSPEL 

Who should preach the gospel ? Those who are called of 
God. The will of God is seen in the natural ability and 
gifts. No man is required to see without eyes, hear with- 
out ears, or preach the gospel without the necessary ability. 
But as a man is dependent on mirrors to see his own eyes, 
and upon scales to learn his own weight, so he must learn 
his ability by external circumstances and the judgment of 
others. The voice of the people with whom he is associ- 
ated is generally the voice of God respecting a man's call 
to the ministry. 

367 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

There may be also a providential call. A drowning man 
or a burning house may be a plain call to specific duty ; so 
a sinking church or the spiritual destitution of a district, 
may be a Divine call to one like Jonah to go forth and do 
the preaching demanded. 

The general commission has gone forth to preach the 
gospel to every creature, and the accompanying influence 
of the Spirit is promised to lead into all truth. And what 
path of truth and duty can be more important than the 
proclamation of salvation for sinners ? The nature of the 
work, the promised Divine presence, the general convic- 
tion of the most devoted Christians of all times and places, 
and the actual experience of the most successful preachers, 
justify the belief in a spiritual call to the Christian minis- 
try. It does not mean a self-reliant confidence in ability, 
nor miraculous dreams or visions. 

But although we know not how mind influences the 
nerves and muscles of our bodies or the mind and feelings 
of others, we know that such influences are positive facts. 
So while we know not the methods of the divine Spirit, 
yet we know that, agreeable to divine promise, he leads into 
truth and duty, and persons are impressed in such a way 
and to such a degree that the conviction of duty becomes 
clear, and one finds no rest but in yielding to the convic- 
tion. Thus Christians are impressed to labor in Sabbath 
schools or as missionaries, and thus the true ministers of 
Christ are called to preach the gospel. 

This call may not always be understood, and mis- 
takes may be made in this as in other spiritual impressions. 
But we are to " try the spirits " by the voice of God, and 
then take that course that is least doubtful. " He that 
doubteth is damned if he eat." That is, to take the most 
doubtful course is always. criminal. Many persons go into 
other callings without even a question of the Divine mind, 
but refuse the ministry because they do not know it to be 
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ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

their duty. They never can know by mathematical cer- 
tainty, as they know a whole is greater than its parts, or 
that the sides of a square are equal. No duty is thus 
known.. The strongest probability, the least doubtful 
course, is the rule of life in religious work as in all other 
work. 



THE SUCCESSFUL PASTOR 

{^n Ocean Tark Lecture.) 

Each human being by his natural peculiarities is called 
by the God of nature to his appropriate profession or call- 
ing. And the voice of the people and other circumstances 
furnish a providential call. 

Being thus made a minister by creation, providence, and 
the Holy Ghost, he is sent to the world with the message 
of mercy, responsible ultimately only to God, and bound 
to do the work assigned as best he can, whether men will 
bear or forbear, whether he is paid or persecuted. Pastors 
are ministers appointed, called, or elected to particular 
churches or assemblies of believers to co-operate with 
them in the great work of evangelization. Natural ability, 
education, piety, and spirituality are necessary conditions 
of success in this office; but, assuming the importance of 
these qualifications, let us select for our present purpose 
four conditions of success in the pastoral work. 

I. The assumption of a right position respecting the 
work and relations of a pastor. 

A pastor is not a civil officer nor ecclesiastical governor. 
He is not called simply to teach or to amuse or entertain 
the public. He is not a hireling. The worth of his labors 
can no more be measured by money than music with scales. 
The pastor is an elected officer and not a hired man. The 
man who learns how to prepare and deliver public orations 
and then hires out to preach sermons approaches about as 
near to a real pastor as the mechanic who polishes an 
369 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

organ does to a musician, or a hired courier to a general, or 
a hired man to the real father. The church organization 
is not complete without a pastor as well as deacons, and 
when elected he is to be considered a part of the church 
and not " a party of the second part " in a contract. Hired 
men have been useful in caring for families and churches, 
and yet for real and ultimate prosperity of the family or 
church, there is generally something more needed, a real, 
living entity. 

2. Intensity of conviction is another indispensable con- 
dition of pastoral success. Truth may be received and 
employed for literary purposes, to fill out a plot, for 
speculative purposes, for opinion's sake, for didactic 
purposes in mere instruction. It may be received and 
delivered with doubt as a kind of choice between prob- 
abilities, as mere opinions, or with all the confidence of 
moral certainty, as statement of reality. Only by such 
positive convictions, as influential upon the speaker as 
demonstration itself, can pulpit labors be successful. 

A pastor must not only have unwavering convictions of 
the truth spoken, but deep convictions of its importance. 
Some truths are more important than others, and that 
pastor who talks and preaches of God and heaven, of 
Christ and salvation, of sin and damnation, with as little 
earnestness as is shown by common traders and secular 
teachers, can hardly expect success. Emotion is not piety, 
nor proof of piety, but every man ought to be moved in 
feelings, expressions, and actions, according to the impor- 
tance of the subject in hand, and a minister who exhibits 
less earnestness in the eternal realities and truths of the 
gospel than other subjects, can scarcely expect to convince 
others. A celebrated actor is reported as saying to a 
clergyman, " We speak fiction as if it was truth ; you 
preach truth as if it was fiction ; therefore theatres are 
filled and-.churches are empty." 

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ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

But there must be intense convictions respecting duty as 
well as truth. Not a mere professional choice, or even a 
hope to be happy and useful, nor, upon the other hand, a 
struggle against duty, but a deep, settled conviction of 
duty to God and man — the feeling that "woe is me if 
I preach not the gospel," enforced by the law of God, the 
example of Christ, and all the claims of a ruined world. 
This feeling of obligation pressing stronger than love of 
happiness or fame, stronger than love of friends or life, is 
the secret of apostolic success, and must be the most 
potent force in every successful pastor's life. 

3. And this will lead to self-abnegation and self-denial. 
An author writes successfully only while absorbed in his 
subject and forgetful of himself. A general in true patri- 
otic service is not studying upon salary and fame. In 
every work and calling, success depends on concentration 
of attention and force. Especially is this true of pastoral 
work, which has in view objects infinitely more important 
than any earthly good. Who has not seen ministers 
withered and shriveled, dejected and rejected, because of 
special care for themselves in reference to reputation (" in- 
fluence," they term it), support, etc. ? And whoever saw a 
successful pastor who was not self-denying? A sensation- 
alist may seem to succeed for a time with selfish ends, a 
minister may succeed in pleasing the people and hiring out 
to preach sermons ; real pastoral success we have never 
seen without self-denial and sacrifice. So Christ and the 
apostles worked, and the same spirit must be in the labor- 
ers of all ages. This spirit is scarcely less important or 
less difficult to maintain in the midst of worldly promises 
of self-satisfaction than under the threatening of persecu- 
tion, torture, and death. (Mark 10: 29, 30.) 

4. But, in addition to all other conditions of success, 
confidence and hopefulness are indispensable. A noted 
evangelist has said that God will not use a discouraged 

371 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

man. What cowardly general ever gained a victory? 
What weakling in the ministry who with weekly and 
weakly complaining of his own inability, the coldness of 
the church, and opposition of the world loads himself and 
others with discouragements, ever fed the Church of God 
or converted sinners from the error of their ways? 
Cheerful hopefulness and godly courage are the special 
wants of our churches and ministry. Cowards were 
worse than useless in the days of Gideon, and cowardly 
pastors are worse than none, discouraging, perhaps, some 
women who might otherwise repeat the story of the risen 
Christ. There can be no truths and motives so powerful 
as those of the Gospel, nor promises that will compare 
with the promises of God, nor help for any work like the 
influence of the Holy Spirit. With these divine encour- 
agements, enough to make soldiers of children and victors 
of the weakest, we have the history and experience of the 
Church, which in spite of the numbers and strength of its 
enemies, and the weakness of its friends, has advanced 
from victory to victory, showing thousands of instances 
of marvelous successes under great difficulties. These 
are prophecies of future triumph, encouragements to every 
faithful worker, and a reproof to every hopeless pastor. 

Let pastors, then, assume the right position in the field, 
engage in the work with earnestness, self-denial, and hope- 
fulness, and they may expect success. " The word of the 
Lord endureth forever," and " all the promises of God in 
him are yea, and in him are amen, unto the glory of God 
by us." 

WHERE SHALL I GO TO SCHOOL? 

" Where I can secure the largest opportunities, of course. 
I cannot afford to waste my time in second-class institu- 
tions any more than the Chinaman could afford to get a 
No. 6 boot to fit his own foot when he could get a No. 12 
372 



ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

which would make more show and secure notoriety. 
What if the large telescope cannot be used by seven in a 
thousand students, nor the old manuscripts be studied at 
all by those giving their time to college studies, still the 
honor of going to a university or a great college is an 
object, and these large faculties and large salaries show 
their greatness. Is not wealth always the sign of great- - 
ness, and large salaries proof of ability? To be sure, 
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Henry Wilson, and some 
such men died poor. But great scholars can get money, 
and as no other motive is possible, teachers with large 
salaries must be great men, and vice versa.^' 

But, my friend, schools are not reflectors to be esti- 
mated by the extent and brilliancy of their surface, nor 
tunnels through which to pour knowledge into empty 
heads, not millinery or tailor shops for furnishing personal 
ornaments, nor echo halls to re-echo technical terms and 
fulsome praises, not marble shops for inscribing names 
and titles, nor literary tables for supplying delicacies and 
luxuries of taste ; but they are mainly for the development 
of mind and character. They are to make men, and to 
make men useful and successful parts of society. The 
adaptation of the school to the student, and to the student 
in his relations to circumstances and society, is a question 
of much greater importance than the magnitude of the 
institution, or even the facilities for imparting theoretical 
knowledge. Learning, like water, in itself is always 
pure, but its mixtures, compounds, and reservoirs may 
render it a deadly poison. The moral atmosphere, false 
philosophy, and social surroundings may stupefy the 
conscience and sensibilities, and lead to associations and 
habits worse than ignorance itself. 

But another consideration of no small account is the 
probability of usefulness. A student has no right to 
stultify himself and ignore responsibility while in school, 
373 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

and the habits formed in doing so will prove a serious 
injury through life. Student life may be very useful, and 
not one half the pastors are as useful as some students. 
With most men this is impossible, excepting in institutions 
for which there is a special affinity. Let every student 
make this matter one of special inquiry — "live each day 
as though it was the last." 

"Where shall I go to school?" (i) Where there is 
a strong religious influence. I need this for my personal 
safety and spiritual improvement, and for help in securing 
qualifications for usefulness. (2) Where I can harmonize 
with the doctrines, and the spirit and modes of worship, 
thus avoiding jealousy, unpleasant feelings, and contro- 
versy. (3) Where I probably can be of service in moral and 
Christian work. (4) Where the probabilities of conver- 
sion are increased. (5) Where, at least by my presence, I 
can help an institution for which my friends and church 
are more or less responsible . (6) Where there is not too 
much conservatism, nor too much radicalism, but where 
the spirit of energy and enterprise accords with the spirit 
of the age and of the field where I shall probably 
live and labor. (7) Where, with these considerations, I 
can expect sufficient help to make a man of myself, with 
independence, education, and piety combined. 

July 23, J 88 5. 



BRIEF QUOTATIONS. 

" Church and denominational worth and beauty do not 
consist in numbers, wealth, or external appearances. The 
real worth and beauty of the church consists in its doc- 
trines, spirit, and practice. It was not lack of numbers 
but longing for the ' leeks and onions,' and lack of faith 
and courage, that kept the Israelites upon the deserts forty 
years. The same causes will keep any church in the 
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ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

desert. Jesus did not glory in numbers or temporalities, 
but, witliout either wealth or the smiles of the great, 
preached to the poor, the common people. Let us not 
glory in men, nor ask the world's smiles upon external 
beauties and apparent successes. ' Let him that glorieth 
glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me.' " 

" Any head of a family who can keep a dog or buy a 
carpet, take a secular paper or pay fraternity fees, drink 
tea or coffee, and yet refuses to subscribe for such a relig- 
ious and family necessity as a good religious periodical, 
ought to fmd the ' anxious seat ' or give some other indi- 
cation of a change of purpose immediately. At any rate, 
let him be prayed for. 

" But if there is any professed Christian who dares to 
spend his Lord's money for tobacco instead of taking a 
religious family paper, let him read Gal. 6 : 7, 8, and learn 
the consequences of sowing to the flesh." 

" Unbelief is the greatest sin on earth. It involves the 
coldest ingratitude for the richest blessings, personal 
abuse of the best Friend, rebellion against the best gov- 
ernment, and the loss of all hope." 

" Is there anything in the New Testament, or in the 
nature of the case, making it the exclusive duty of minis- 
ters to visit strangers and the sick, to make religious calls 
upon individuals and families, to personally invite sinners 
to Christ? From the Bible and experience, these duties 
seem to belong to Christians as such, and not exclusively to 
the ministry, and yet most pastors are engaged for that very 
work, and- not one church member in three hundred expects 
to do any religious family visiting. They have a hired 
man to do that work for them ! " 
375 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

" Those who talk of duties to themselves ought to 
understand they are not law-makers, even for themselves, 
and that their first law is to God, who orders all things for 
the best. There can be no duty without a law, nor law 
without relations, nor relations without obligations, nor 
obligations without conscience, nor conscience without in- 
telligence. This golden chain is fixed in nature by the 
Creator, thus uniting man with God, earth with heaven, 
time with eternity." 



THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD AND BROTHERHOOD OF 

MAN. 

[This article was the last Dr. Dunn wrote for publication.] 

According to Webster, there are fifteen different mean- 
ings to the word "father." God is not a father in the 
same sense that a man is the father of his own children ; 
nor in the same sense that the devil is the father of his 
children. If he is the father of all men, as cause of all 
men and things, then as universal cause he is the father 
of everything in the mineral, vegetable, and animal king- 
doms of nature. 

But this phrase came into use in the early days of Uni- 
versalism as expressive of Divine sympathy for man 
regardless of atonement or character. There are three 
kinds of feelings possible respecting the sinful and 
suffering: (i) Sympathy, which is purely instinctive, 
involuntary, and without moral character. (2) Benev- 
olence, which is voluntary, intentional good-will to 
being, and the foundation of all good character. " God 
is love," but not a God of sympathy. (3) Approval of 
right or wrong in others. This, of course, must be of the 
same moral character as that which is approved. 

A large proportion of parental sym.pathies are purely 
instinctive, the same in animal as in human parents. The 
376 



ARTICLES FROM PAPERS 

feelings of the bear and sheep are the same respecting 
their offspring as the first feelings of human parents. 
These feelings assume moral character only when they 
come within the force of conscience and the will. To im- 
agine that God is thus moved changes theism to atheism. 
And worse. If God loves men regardless of atonement 
and man's moral character, it is infinite approval of their 
character whatever it may be, and thus makes God an 
infinite transgressor of his own law. 

But " God is a Spirit," and they that worship him must 
do so " in spirit and in truth." "For God so loved the 
world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." And thus a " new and living way " is provided for 
membership in the Divine family. So that one must not 
only be born of water — that is, of the flesh — but of the 
Spirit, in order to see the kingdom of God. His birth is 
like the natural only in that it begins a new life, and God 
is the " author " of that life of faith. 

Without attempting an explanation of this " new way " 
and life, Christ reaffirmed its necessity and reality, and 
left Nicodemus and all believers to learn by its experience 
the nature and glory of its results. It is unquestionably 
true that God is our Creator, and that he made man in his 
own mental image. Not in his physical image, for he is 
Spirit and not constituted of a body of material parts. 
Not in his moral image, for moral character is acted, not 
created. If created, it is not moral character. But man 
was and is in God's mental image. A God without in- 
telligence, moral convictions^ and will, or power of choice, is 
inconceivable. So is man, having necessarily these three 
traits of the divine Creator. 

So man is a creation of God, but not a child unless he is 
" born of the Spirit." So the oldest member of Congress 
may be the "father of the house," but he would not be 
377 



A CONSECRATED LIFE 

well pleased to own them all as his children, any more 
than a carriage maker would call his carriage his child. 
There are many brotherhoods among men, — brotherhoods 
of lawyers, doctors, and scientists ; of Masons, Odd Fel- 
lows, and Knights ; Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyte- 
rians ; of drunkards, thieves, and robbers ; but that every 
man should look upon a drunkard in the 'ditch or murderer 
upon the scaffold as his brother, is absurd ; it is not true 
except in a figurative sense. 




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